Spotlight: Hillary Clinton's avoidance of press conference stirs up frustration, outcry

For U.S. media covering the 2016 presidential election, one of the vexing issues is Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's phobia about press conference.

When asked about when it would hold the first press conference for the former secretary of state since last December, the Clinton campaign couldn't be even blunter.

"We'll have a press conference when we want to have a press conference," said Clinton pollster Joel Benenson in an interview with ABC News in July.

Two hundred and thirty-eight days into 2016, Clinton has so far held not a single press conference.

Her unwillingness to have a freewheeling exchange with the press comes at a time when the standard-bearer of the Democratic Party, dogged by trust deficit since the beginning of her campaign, is scrambling to fend off new political firestorm after an investigative report by AP found that more than half of the people from outside the U.S. government who spoke with Clinton during her stint in the State Department also gave money to the Clinton foundation.

"Isn't the antidote to this (Clinton's trust issue) to sit her down today in front of your traveling press corps..... and let her take questions until there are no more questions to be answered?" asked Nicolle Wallace, a NBC News commentator in an interview with Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook on Wednesday.

In Clinton's defense, Mook simply responded by arguing that Clinton "has done over 300 interviews this year alone."

In the ensuing exchange, Wallace questioned whether the Clinton campaign's practice to insulate the former secretary of state from any unscripted and unmoderated Q&A sessions with the press would work against Clinton in her efforts to deal with the "perception problem on the question of honesty and trustworthiness."

The response Wallace got, however, was mere mechanical repetition of what she had already gleaned from Mook.

"She's done over 300 interviews this year. And she takes questions in a variety of formats and we're going to keep looking at that," said Mook.

The frustration from the U.S. media builds on as media scrutiny of Clinton's total avoidance of a press conference continues.

Calling it "a dangerous precedent", Chris Cillizza from The Washington Post commented that Clinton's obliged to hold press conference, "a responsibility that comes with the job" she is running for.

"Clinton's resistance to any real engagement with the media in the campaign sets a dangerous precedent for how accountable and transparent she might be as president," wrote Cillizza.

In June, the U.S. daily USA TODAY editor and columnist Rem Rieder also challenged Clinton to "Stop avoiding reporters. Start answering their questions on a regular basis. Hold a press conference."

As Clinton continues to shun press conference amid roiling controversy over alleged connection between the Clinton Foundation and the U.S. State Department, her political foes in the Republican Party seized on the opening.

"It's time for Hillary Clinton to hold a press conference to explain the brazen conflicts of interest and obvious pay-to-play politics that went on in her State Department," said Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, in a statement.

"Clinton owes explanations for why she broke ethics agreements regarding foreign donations to her family foundation, gave preferential treatment to foundation donors as secretary of state, and why we should believe that her secret server wasn't designed to cover up the shady pay-to-play politics at her State Department," said Priebus.

So far, there is little sign that Clinton will soon defend herself at a press conference.

In a move to show her willingness to take questions, Clinton had a phone interview with CNN on Wednesday night. However, she remained evasive when asked about any future plan to hold a press conference.

"Stay tuned," said Clinton. "There'll be a lot of different opportunities for me to talk to the press." Enditem