白宮反駁美國新聞自由度降級

The White House is rejecting accusations President Donald Trump and his administration are hampering freedom of the press in the United States.

A media watchdog and advocacy group has dropped the United States two places to 45th in its annual press freedom rankings, blaming Trump's repeated verbal attacks on reporters, publications and TV news networks.

“I think we're one of the most accessible administrations that we've seen in decades,” replied White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at Wednesday's briefing just hours after the release of the Reporters Without Borders 2018 World Press Freedom Index.

“I think by my mere presence of standing up here and taking your questions unvetted is a pretty good example of freedom of the press and I think it's ridiculous to suggest otherwise,” Huckabee Sanders said, responding to a question from VOA.

The response did not satisfy the chief White House correspondent for cnn, which has been repeatedly singled out by the president as a purveyor of “fake news.”

Jim Acosta, who sits in the front row for the White House press briefings, asked Huckabee Sanders whether she was trying to say, in response to VOA's question, whether the Trump administration was a champion of the free press.

“We support a free press, but we also support a fair press,” replied Huckabee Sanders. “And I think that those things should go hand in hand and there's a certain responsibility by the press to report accurate information.”

The press secretary then complained she frequently finds herself “taking your questions in a tone that's completely unnecessary, unneeded and frankly doesn't help further the conversation or help the American people get any more information in a better way which is your job and my job.”白宮反駁有關川普總統及其行政當局在美國壓制新聞自由的說法。

在一個媒體權益組織新公佈的新聞自由度年度排名中，美國排名下跌兩位，跌至第45個國家。報告批評川普經常發表抨擊記者、刊物以及電視新聞網的言論。

白宮新聞祕書桑德斯在星期三的新聞簡報會上說：“我認爲我們是數十年來最開放的行政當局。”記者無國界組織星期三稍早公佈了2018年全球新聞自由指數報告。

桑德斯回答美國之音記者問題時說：“我想，就憑我現在站在這裏，回答沒有任何事先審查過的問題，就是新聞自由的一個良好例證。任何其它說法都是荒謬的。”

這個回答沒有讓有線電視新聞網（cnn）的駐白宮首席記者滿意。川普總統多次點名抨擊cnn是個假新聞機構。

cnn駐白宮首席記者阿科斯向桑德斯提問，她對美國之音記者問題的回答是否是說，川普行政當局是新聞自由的大力倡導者。

桑德斯回答說：“我們支持新聞自由，但我們也支持公正的媒體。我認爲這兩者相輔相成，媒體有責任報道準確的消息。”

白宮新聞祕書桑德斯說，她經常要面對記者提問題時夾雜“完全不必要的口氣，坦率地說，無助於繼續對話，或幫助美國人民獲得更多、更好信息，而這正是你我的職責”。