White House press secretary Sean Spicer has chided the news media for what he called "deliberate false reporting" regarding the attendance at President Donald Trump's inauguration.
Taking his first press briefing at the White House Mr Spicer spoke for about 10 minutes and then walked out without taking any questions.
"Yesterday, at a time when our nation and the world was watching the peaceful transition of power ... some members of the media were engaged in deliberate and false reporting."
Mr Spicer first pointed out an erroneous report from a pool reporter that the bust of Martin Luther King Jr had been removed form the Oval Office. That report was corrected prior to Mr Spicer's statement.
He launched into a lengthy explanation over photos on social media, contrasting the attendance of the 2017 inauguration to the attendance at Barack Obama's 2009 swearing in, claiming that Mr Trump had the "largest audience to ever witness an inauguration". He later qualified that by saying that the audience figures included those attending and those watching around the world.
Nielsen estimates that 31 million viewers watched TV coverage of President Trump's inauguration. That is better than Mr Obama's second inauguration but well short of his first.
The most-watched inauguration since 1969 was President Ronald Reagan's first oath-taking in 1981, which was seen by 41.8 million people. The audience total measures continuous coverage by 12 broadcast and cable networks.
In 2013, 20.6 million viewed Mr Obama's second inauguration. His first inauguration, in 2009, was seen by 37.8 million people.
"Photographs of the inauguration process were intentionally framed in a way ... to minimise the enormous support that had gathered on the National Mall," he said.
"This was the first time in our nation's history that floor coverings had been used to protect the grass on the Mall that had the effect highlighting any areas where people were not standing, while in years past, the grass eliminated this visual. This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period – both in person and remote."
Similar coverings were used on the Mall during Mr Obama's inauguration in 2013.
Estimates place attendance of Mr Trump's inauguration at around 250,000, although there are no official figures.
Mr Spicer said: “No one had numbers because the National Park Service, which controls the National Mall, does not put those out,” he said.
In 2009, about 1.8 million people attended. Aerial photographs of the two events show a marked difference between 2009 and 2017.
"These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong," the Press Secretary said.
Mr Spicer also said that the Trump administration were “going to hold the press accountable,” partly by reaching the public through social networking sites.
Meanwhile, more than 500,000 demonstrators marched on the nation's capital the day after the presidential inauguration – and hundreds of thousands and possibly millions more took to the streets in all 50 states and around the globe.
