White House mistreats American journalist day after it ‘stood up’ for Sabrina Siddique

Just a day after the White House “condemned” the “harassment” of a Wall Street Journal journalist Sabrina Siddique for questioning the minority rights in India, it was found mistreating an American correspondent, Simon Ateba.

Ateba, a White House correspondent for Today News Africa had accused the White House of purposefully deleting a heated argument between him and press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

The heated exchange of words occurred with Pierre speaking about the “harassment” faced by Sabrina Siddique since last week. “The White House, under this administration, we’re committed to the freedom of the press. I want to be very clear about that,” the press secretary said.

Outrage after the @WhiteHouse removed my interaction with White House @PressSec Karine Jean-Pierre during our press briefing yesterday, Monday. What they did was..they pretended that the feed had a problem on YouTube when we were live, then continued broadcasting after our… pic.twitter.com/f5Hwcxrkun

— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) June 28, 2023

Ateba followed up by saying, “So are you going to take questions from me? Because you’ve been discriminating against me for the past nine months.”

“You’re incredibly rude. You’re being incredibly rude,” said Pierre following which she threatened to end the press briefing.

Ateba responded, “I’ve been in this briefing room.  I’ve been trying to ask you one question when I am on. You’re not giving freedom of the press.”

White House deletes clip

Initially, Ateba claims that the White House deleted the portion where the exchange happened and uploaded incomplete footage of the press briefing on YouTube.

The White House told Fox News that the portion was missing due to a technical glitch and that the clip has been restored.

(You can jump to 42:20 to watch the argument between Ateba and Pierre)

However, a sceptical Ateba said, “What they did was..they pretended that the feed had a problem on YouTube when we were live, then continued broadcasting after our exchange, without that portion of the exchange. In doing so, they violated the Public Records Act.”

“They only restored that portion after they were caught and called out, long after the briefing. It was a total fraud,” he added.

He further said that if the White House deems a reporter “problematic,” “they blacklist you. They don’t respond to your question; they don’t respond to your email. And they don’t allow you to ask questions in the background.”

Two versions of briefing now up on YouTube

Taking to Twitter, Ateba shared two YouTube links containing the two versions of the press briefing – one with the argument between him and Pierre and the other missing one.

“The White House fraud continues. They have two versions of the briefing on YouTube. The first one was where they edited me out during my exchange with

The @WhiteHouse fraud continues. They have two versions of the briefing on YouTube. The first one where they edited me out during my exchange with @PressSec Karine Jean-Pierre and the second one where they restored it. Both versions are up. Here they are.

1-… pic.twitter.com/m3qWb1jT4y

— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) June 28, 2023

Karine Jean-Pierre and the second one where they restored it. Both versions are up,” he said.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reporter Sabrina Siddiqui asked Prime Minister Modi about the rights of minorities in India and what steps his government was willing to take to improve them and also uphold free speech.

A day after the joint press conference, the reporter faced online abuse for questioning the Prime Minister, with some alleging that her question was “motivated” and calling her a “Pakistani Islamist.”

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