The Associated Press highlighted the backlash to Donald Trump's “fondness” for phone interviews, writing that the practice “is changing habits and causing consternation in newsrooms, while challenging political traditions.”

Media critics have called out news channels' new habit of granting phone interviews to Trump -- an advantage AP explains has not been granted by Sunday political talk shows to any other candidate -- arguing that the format “lacks the balance of a face-to-face exchange because the audience and the interviewer are not allowed to see Trump's expressions and reactions” and “is also more difficult to follow-up and put the subject on the spot to answer questions more directly.” Bloomberg View columnist Al Hunt also pointed out that “a phone interview is a lot easier than an in-person interview, and Trump almost always does well in those situations.” As AP reported, Media Matters and MomsRising have launched petitions to ask the media to end Trump's phone privilege.

In a March 26 article, AP examined Trump's phone interview privileges with the media and the growing backlash to them, writing that the practice “often put an interviewer at a disadvantage, since it's harder to interrupt or ask follow-up questions, and impossible to tell if a subject is being coached.” AP also noted that Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace and Meet the Press' Chuck Todd are refusing to grant Trump phone interviews:

In television news, a telephone interview is typically frowned upon. Donald Trump's fondness for them is changing habits and causing consternation in newsrooms, while challenging political traditions.

Two organizations are circulating petitions to encourage Sunday morning political shows to hang up on Trump. Some prominent holdouts, like Fox's Chris Wallace, refuse to do on-air phoners. Others argue that a phone interview is better than no interview at all.

Except in news emergencies, producers usually avoid phoners because television is a visual medium -- a face-to-face discussion between a newsmaker and questioner is preferable to a picture of an anchor listening to a disembodied voice.

It's easy to see why Trump likes them. There's no travel or TV makeup involved; if he wishes to, Trump can talk to Matt Lauer without changing out of his pajamas. They often put an interviewer at a disadvantage, since it's harder to interrupt or ask follow-up questions, and impossible to tell if a subject is being coached.

Face-to-face interviews let viewers see a candidate physically react to a tough question and think on his feet, said Chris Licht, executive producer of “CBS This Morning.” Sometimes that's as important as what is being said.

Trump tends to take over phone interviews and can get his message out with little challenge, Wallace said.

“The Sunday show, in the broadcast landscape, I feel is a gold standard for probing interviews,” said Wallace, host of “Fox News Sunday.” ''The idea that you would do a phone interview, not face-to-face or not by satellite, with a presidential candidate -- I'd never seen it before, and I was quite frankly shocked that my competitors were doing it."

[...]

Chuck Todd, host of NBC's “Meet the Press,” has done phoners with Trump but now said he's decided to stick to in-person interviews on his Sunday show. He's no absolutist, though.

“It's a much better viewer experience when it's in person,” Todd said. “Satellite and phoners are a little harder, there's no doubt about it. But at the end of the day, you'll take something over nothing.”

[...]

Since the campaign began, Trump has appeared for 29 phone interviews on the five Sunday political panel shows, according to the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America. Through last Sunday, ABC's “This Week” has done it 10 times, CBS' “Face the Nation” seven and six times each on “Meet the Press” and CNN's “State of the Union.”

None of these shows has done phoners with Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, said Media Matters, which is urging that the practice be discontinued.

The activist group MomsRising said the disparity “sends the message that some candidates can play by different rules, without consequences, and that's just un-American.”