money White House Reporters Urge Press Secretary to End Biden-Event Restrictions
A group of 68 journalists sent a letter to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday demanding that the Biden administration reopen large White House events to all journalists and questioning President Biden’s commitment to defending the First Amendment.
The group, which includes leaders of the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) and several veteran reporters, said that journalists have repeatedly asked that the administration return to traditional “access norms” at the White House, including eliminating an opaque pre-screening process for reporters for certain events.
“We once again respectfully request the Biden administration — without exception — re-open all of the traditional venues for presidential remarks at the White House, including the East Room and the South Court Auditorium, for any reporter admitted to the White House campus,” the letter reads.
Nearly 70 journalists have signed the letter below to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre protesting press-access restrictions in certain areas of the White House campus that were previously open to all reporters admitted onto the grounds. pic.twitter.com/seLQQyuUZF
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) June 30, 2022
“The current method of allowing a limited number of reporters into these events is not only restrictive and antithetical to the concept of a free press, but it has been done without any transparent process into how reporters are selected to cover these events,” the group adds. “We are all left wondering who is making these decisions and what are the criteria on which they are based?”
The letter says Biden staffers have not been transparent with the WHCA about the selection criteria.
Jean-Pierre said earlier this month, “I actually don’t know” how the selection process works. However, she dismissed concerns that the process was a “blacklisting” of specific outlets or reporters.
The journalists acknowledge that the Covid-19 pandemic led to “spacing constraints” in the White House because of social-distancing efforts but argue that since guidelines have been relaxed — including a return to full-capacity press briefings a year ago — “we’ve never gotten an explanation as to why the areas that have traditionally been opened to all press remain restricted.”
Earlier this month, guests were squeezed together for a Pride Month event in the East Room, demonstrating that “spacing constraints” because of Covid-19 are no longer the reason for limited press access.
“The continued inability of the White House to be candid and transparent about the selection process for reporters attending his remarks undermines President Biden’s credibility when he says he is a defender of the First Amendment,” the group adds.
The letter was drafted by Salon reporter Brian Karem and received its second signature from CBS News Radio’s Steven Portnoy, who is president of the WHCA, according to the New York Post.
Other signatories include the New York Times’s Maggie Haberman, Axios‘s Jonathan Swan, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, CBS’s Ed O’Keefe, and Fox News’s Jacqui Heinrich.
