There was no briefing on Friday so this was the first chance to press him on CNN’s scoop. Ace says he watched most of it and didn’t hear a peep about it. When he tweeted at Ed Henry of Fox to ask what’s up, Henry tweeted back — well, go look. Consider this a bleg: Did anyone watch, start to finish, and can confirm or deny that it’s true? Even with the big terror alert preoccupying the media, it’s unfathomable that they wouldn’t pick up a story pushed by a major cable news net that kinda sorta hinted the CIA might have been shipping SAMs to Syrian jihadis under the radar and that the CIA is now trying to intimidate would-be leakers into silence. Especially when Carney dismissed this as a phony scandal as recently as last week.

If it is true, does this explain why?

Some CNN reporters are reportedly fearful now that their access to the White House will be hampered following their probing into a story that members of the Obama administration would prefer remain uninvestigated.

“Access is a very serious consideration when it comes to stories that could adversely impact a show, correspondent, or network’s relationship with the administration, a campaign, or any political leader,” one source with insider information told Mediaite.

“I would suggest it’s not an accident that those who have been given a lot of access to the president have generally been AWOL when it comes to stories that might reflect poorly on him,” the source, who did not wish to be identified, continued. “It’s the name of the game. And it’s bad for everyone trying to do this job the right way.”

I tweeted this out before posting in hopes that someone would correct me/Ace. Here’s what I got back:

@allahpundit confirmed. #Benghazi was mentioned as an aside, but not as a direct question and not re: @TheLeadCNN scoop.

— Chip (@cyamas) August 5, 2013

@allahpundit start to finish. It was basically asking about the threat warnings. No ref to @theleadcnn or gun running or dozens of CIA, etc.

— Chip (@cyamas) August 5, 2013

The transcript of the press briefing typically isn’t posted until later in the day; I’ll update once it’s up. As it is, I’m torn between thinking that this is the ultimate proof that the daily briefing now operates as a form of anti-news and thinking that it wouldn’t matter if they’d asked three dozens questions about it since Carney would have simply deflected them away anyway (“I’d refer you to the CIA for further comment”). The briefing is really a platform for reporters more than for the White House itself: The media gets to show the public that it’s asking the tough questions, even though it gets zero answers and Carney never, ever says anything legitimately newsworthy. What’s left if they’re not even asking the tough questions, though? Does the Daily Caller need to send a 14-year-old down there to do it for them?