A senior anchor with Donald Trump’s media ally Fox News has criticised the White House for its exclusive media briefings after several mainstream news organisations were barred from a Q&A session.

The decision to bar some outlets from off-camera ‘gaggle’ with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has been was criticised by politicians, commentators and the organisations themselves.

Although representatives from Fox News were allowed to attend, Bret Baier, a senior anchor with the broadcaster, joined in with the criticism.

Taking to Twitter, he posted: "Some at CNN & NYT stood w/FOX News when the Obama admin attacked us & tried 2 exclude us-a WH gaggle should be open to all credentialed orgs.”

Those banned were organisations Mr Trump regularly attacks, repeatedly referring to them as peddlers of ‘fake news’ in his many tirades against the ‘dishonest media’.

But Fox News is one of the few Mr Trump praises and refers to in official statements, including his mention of a terror attack in Sweden which he later claimed was based on broadcast from the outlet.

He has also tweeted their praises, declaring himself a fan of the Fox and Friends show.

Other right-leaning outlets such as Breitbart and the Washington Times were allowed in to the now-controversial briefing, alongside some major news organisation including ABC, CBS, and Bloomberg.

The unorthodox style the Trump administration is adopting towards the media has been heavily criticised, with the gaggle held in the West Wing office instead of the traditional on-camera briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, another break with tradition.

Fox News anchor berates Donald Trump's chief of staff: 'You don't get to tell us what to do'

The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) voiced its concern over the latest apparent breakdown in relations.

Jeff Mason, the association’s president, said issued a statement saying: “The WHCA board is protesting strongly against how today's gaggle is being handled by the White House.

Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing Show all 17 1 /17 Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing An empty podium is seen as an off camera briefing is held with a small group of reporters and White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer instead of the normal on camera briefing in the White House February 24, 2017 in Washington, DC. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing New York Times reporter, Glenn Thrush works in the Brady Briefing Room after being excluded from a press gaggle by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, on February 24, 2017 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson/Getty Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing New York Times reporter, Glenn Thrush works in the Brady Briefing Room after being excluded from a press gaggle by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, on February 24, 2017 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson/Getty Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing The Brady Briefing Room is shown after reporters were excluded from a press gaggle by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, on February 24, 2017 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson/Getty Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing Reporters in the Brady Briefing Room listen to a tape from a press gaggle by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, on February 24, 2017 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson/Getty Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing Glenn Thrush, chief White House political correspondent for the The New York Times, works in the briefing room after being excluded from an off camera "gaggle" meeting at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 24, 2017. Yuri Gripas/Reuters Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing Journalists work in the briefing room at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 24, 2017. Yuri Gripas/Reuters Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing Journalists leave after several major news organizations including CNN, The New York Times and Politico were excluded from an off camera "gaggle" meeting with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer in his office that was held in place of the regular daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 24, 2017. Yuri Gripas/Reuters Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing An empty podium is seen as an off camera briefing is held with a small group of reporters and White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer instead of the normal on camera briefing in the White House February 24, 2017 in Washington, DC. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing The entrance to the Brady Briefing Room after reporters were excluded from a press gaggle by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, on February 24, 2017 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson/Getty Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing A small group of reporters leave an off camera briefing held with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer instead of the normal on camera briefing in the White House February 24, 2017 in Washington, DC. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing A small group of reporters leave an off camera briefing held with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer instead of the normal on camera briefing in the White House February 24, 2017 in Washington, DC. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing Reporters wait to try and get access to an off camera briefing with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer instead of the normal on camera briefing at the White House on February 24, 2017, in Washington, DC. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing Reporters wait to try and get access to an off camera briefing with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer instead of the normal on camera briefing at the White House on February 24, 2017, in Washington, DC. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing Reporters wait to try and get access to an off camera briefing with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer instead of the normal on camera briefing at the White House on February 24, 2017, in Washington, DC. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing Reporters leave after failing to get access to an off camera briefing with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and a small group of reporters instead of the normal on camera briefing at the White House on February 24, 2017 in Washington, DC. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Reporters blocked from off-camera White House briefing Reporters talk after failing to get access to an off camera briefing with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and a small group of reporters instead of the normal on camera briefing at the White House on February 24, 2017, in Washington DC. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

“We encourage the organizations that were allowed in to share the material with others in the press corps who were not.

“The board will be discussing this further with White House staff.”

The White House fiercely defended its actions, with spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham – who allegedly turned away the non-preferred media outlets and called secret service to remove them – contesting the “facts”.

She said that “claims that outlets were excluded are not factual.

“The pool was there, so various media mediums were represented.”

Mr Spicer himself also maintained that the Trump team were open and accessible to the media.

He reportedly told those allowed in to the gaggle: “I think that we have shown an abundance of accessibility.

"We’ve brought more reporters into this process. … We’ve actually gone above and beyond making ourselves, our team and our briefing room more accessible than probably any prior administration.

“I think you can take that to the bank.”

CNN, The Associated Press (AP), The New York Times, BuzzFeed and the BBC are among those to issues statements condemning Friday’s decision.

Bloomberg, which attended, defended its position, with reporter Jennifer Jacobs tweeting: “Bloomberg was included because we're in regular ‘pool.’

“AP invited too, but declined due to others' exclusion. Bloomberg shared its audio.”

Time magazine and The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) were among those invited but declined to attend out of protest.