Sarah Huckabee Sanders Preferred Over Sean Spicer By Reporters

6/28, 8:50 a.m.: This story has been corrected to accurately reflect comments by the New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.

After a report stating the resignation of three CNN reporters Monday following a disputed story involving possible collusion between Russians and an ally of President Donald Trump, Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders strongly criticized journalists for promoting fake news during the White House press briefing Tuesday.

She complained that reporters use anonymous sources as the basis for news pieces, something that is considered a generally accepted journalistic norm. She added Trump was displeased by the “constant barrage of fake news.”

Sanders even stood up to angry Playboy Magazine Columnist Brian Karem, who called Sanders’ statements “inflammatory” to the media present.

“I think if anything has been inflamed, it’s been the dishonesty that has taken place in the news media,” Sanders pressed on, reported Washington Times. “I think if anything has been inflamed, it’s the dishonesty that often takes place by the news media. And I think it is outrageous for you to accuse me of inflaming a story when I was simply trying to respond to his question,” he added.

Read: Twitter Reacts To Sean Spicer Getting Fatter, As Steve Bannon Apparently Claimed

Despite Sanders’ tough stance of the media, it is a general consensus among reporters that she does a better job at handling press briefings than her boss, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.

Many reporters were surprised to discover Sanders, instead of Spicer, handled the press briefing for the first time, early in May 2017. After the briefing, four out of five reporters from different news outlets admitted that they preferred Sanders’ style of handling the briefings than Spicer.

"Sanders is better at briefing than Spicer,” CNBC Reporter John Harwood told Axios. Politico Reporter Josh Dawsey said: "Sarah Sanders parries, spins and obfuscates, too. But she's not condescending and seems comfortable at the podium doing it."

A similar sentiment was echoed by the New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. “Sanders obfuscates same as Spicer. Also does it without making deeply personal, petty, condescending,” Haberman said, according to the Axios report.

According to CNN reporter Dylan Byers, Sanders was “at least a little defensive and condescending… she may be above Spicer but she's miles behind, say, [former Press Secretary Josh] Earnest."

Read: Who Is Sarah Huckabee Sanders? Deputy Press Secretary Leads Off-Camera White House Briefing

David Nakamura of the Washington Post claimed: "Sarah Sanders is not as directly combative as Spicer but she slips in plenty of snark at press during the briefings."

Even Saturday Night Live, which keeps up with regular parodies of the Trump administration, did not fail to notice that reporters preferred Sanders more than Spicer. An SNL skit was dedicated to the same, where reporters urged Sanders to permanently replace Spicer, Newsweek reported.

"I have a question," one reporter says to the deputy press secretary in the skit. "Can you just do this full-time instead of [Sean Spicer]?"

"I’d also like to ask that question," another reporter adds. "Because you are clearly articulate and charming, whereas Sean is bullish…"

However, Sanders also came under fire last month when reports surfaced of her posting a number of controversial tweets back in October 2016, before she had accepted a post in the Trump administration regarding former FBI Director James Comey.