Several major news organisations including CNN, The New York Times and Politico were excluded from an off camera "gaggle" meeting with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.

The meeting, in Spicer's office, was held in place of the regular daily press briefing.

The press secretary hand-picked news outlets including Breitbart News, One America News Network, The Washington Times, all news organisations with far-right leanings. Others major outlets approved included ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, Reuters and Bloomberg.

“Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties,” Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times said in a statement.

“Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest,” he said.

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