[Pearls Before Swine]

The situation is akin to having a “sword hanging over our heads,” said New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker. “It leaves this idea that they are going to be the judge of who gets to cover them based on some probably arbitrary criteria that they will be the only ones to determine.”

That's the way its always been, but couched in terms of assumed polite, or tolerably polite, conduct. Hostile reporters like Acosta and April Ryan are simply forcing it to be put on paper. After all, the WH doesn't have to have press conferences at all. Obama only did rarely, and then in an exceedingly controlled manner.

[MayflowerMadam]

“Obama only did rarely (have press conferences), and then in an exceedingly controlled manner.”

A couple days ago someone showed a clip of Obama having Security remove a reporter from the room when the reporter asked a question he didn’t like. That was after he said, “Oh, no, no, no. This is MY house.”