Under President Joe Biden, reporters are growing “increasingly frustrated” as they have to get quotes from administration official included in a story approved by the White House before publishing it, according to US media reports. However, White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended the stringent rule saying if outlets are not comfortable attributing, they should not utilise those voices.

Although the practice was implemented by former presidents Donald Trump’s and Barack Obama’s administration too, according to a report from Politico, reporters alleged that Biden’s team is abusing it.

ALSO READ | President Biden says ransomware behind US pipeline hack is in Russia

Currently, any quote from an administration official must first be sent to the White House communications team for approval before publishing. The rule allows the White House to wield greater control over media coverage.

“The rule treats them like coddled Capitol Hill pages and that’s not who they are or the protections they deserve,” one reporter told the Politico.

“Every reporter I work with has encountered the same practice,” another reporter told the outlet.

Meanwhile, Jen Psaki told Politico that the communications team “would welcome any outlet banning the use of anonymous background quotes that attack people personally or speak to internal processes from people who don’t even work in the Administration.”

“At the same time, we make policy experts available in a range of formats to ensure context and substantive detail is available for stories,” she added.

“If outlets are not comfortable with that attribution for those officials they of course don’t need to utilize those voices.”

ALSO READ | President Joe Biden’s bid to unite the US, and the 3 key hurdles

Since taking office in January, Biden has stressed providing regular updates to the White House, through timely press briefings with Psaki, and general updates of his administration’s achievements on Twitter. He has made sure to not act as the sole spokesman of his administration, unlike Biden.

Meanwhile, Psaki opined “we’re never going to satisfy the White House press corps and their desires for access.”

“And I think there have been mistakes made in the past of trying to do that,” she added.