New White House media engagement rules may be breached more than obeyed

After going through the new White House rules for media engagement, I am convinced that they will be observed more in breach than obedience. I seriously doubt if any serious journalist would abide by these rules merely because they have been laid down on the heels of the revocation, partial reinstatement and full restoration of CNN's chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta's hard pass.

The WH press office is apparently conscious that they may not be received well since press secretary Sarah Sanders says in the statement, "We have created these rules with a degree of regret." In the same breath though she also says that there may be coming "more elaborate and comprehensive rules."

I suspect it is part of President Donald Trump's gladiatorial instincts when it comes to dealing with the media. He is aware that this is a fight he will continue to win as far as his core base is concerned and might even manage to sway some independent but fence-sitting supporters from time to time. It is an insidious approach whose broader consequences are hard to predict but they cannot be good by any measure. He could not care about the decidedly chilling effect to which despotic strongmen may use this as an inspiration.

The media motocross has just been made much rougher.