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Editor & Publisher reports that the White House refused to allow photojournalists to shoot still pictures of the president after his speech Wednesday night. As a result, print and online media were forced to run low-quality frame grabs from the address.

Dennis Brack, Black Star Rising columnist and president of the White House News Photographers Association (WHNPA), told E&P the decision was “unacceptable” and highly unusual.

E&P’s report continues:

Last year the WHNPA complained that the Bush administration was too often closing events to photographers and asking the press to rely on official photographs instead. The WHNPA says the practice allows the White House to only show the images it wants people to see. Additionally, official White House photos tend to be posed and of little news value, the WHNPA says.