A letter was signed by the White House Correspondents Association to Karine Jean-Pierre, requesting that she not invite any reporters to specific events at the White House.
“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. We are all left wondering who is making these decisions and what are the criteria on which they are based?” they said Thursday, according to The New York Post.
The letter was signed by everyone ranging from The Grio’s April Ryan to The Spectator’s Amber Athey, which shows that liberal and conservative media outlets are bothered by their restrictions. The Post’s Steven Nelson pointed out that Playboy’s Briain Karem wrote the request, and WHCA President Steven Portnoy was the first to put his signature down.
Nearly 1/3 of all WH briefing room seat representations were made in letter arguing, “The administration’s continuing efforts to restrict access to [@JoeBiden]Cannot be defend’@BrianKaremThe letter was written by the President of WHCA @StevenPortnoy was the first to sign https://t.co/3IqD55VLbi
— Steven Nelson (@stevennelson10) June 30, 2022
Even the reporters acknowledged that COVID-19 was not an adequate excuse because the Pandemic threat is now much lower than it once was.
“We appreciate that COVID-19 social distancing guidance played a role at first, but in the year and a half that Joe Biden has been president, and since such guidelines have been eased, we’ve never gotten an explanation as to why the areas that have traditionally been opened to all press remain restricted,” the letter said.
Rather shockingly, the letter also noted that the Trump administration, which was known for its contentious relationship with the press allowed “full access” to the typical venues where the president usually speaks on White House grounds. In the beginning, the White House requests that every reporter be allowed to visit the East Room or South Court Auditorium.
“A reporter’s ability to question the most powerful man in our government shouldn’t be discretionary. The administration’s continued efforts to limit access to the president cannot be defended,” they said. “Any notion that space is “limited” is not supported by the fact that every other president before Biden (including Trump) allowed full access to the very same spaces without making us fill out a request form prior to admittance.”
This moment of unity from these correspondents of varying political backgrounds clearly explains that there’s a transparency issue. Biden has had a history of difficulty communicating its intentions to American citizens. Limiting access to media will not help.
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