Current Events > White House revokes press passes for dozens of journalists

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/white-house-press-passes.php

IN WHAT APPEARS TO BE an unprecedented move, the White House revoked the press passes of a significant chunk of the Washington press corps because they didnt meet a new standard, according to Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank. Under the new rules, rolled out earlier this year, in order to qualify for the highest level of accessknown as a hard passjournalists had to be present in the White House for at least 90 days out of a 180-day period. According to Milbank, virtually the entire press corps failed to meet this new test, including all six of the Posts White House correspondents. Media outlets then had to apply for exceptions to cover their senior journalists, or settle for six-month passes, which dont allow as much access.

The Post applied for and was granted exceptions for its White House correspondents, Milbank says, but he was not given one. I strongly suspect its because Im a Trump critic, he wrote on Wednesday. The move is perfectly in line with Trumps banning of certain news organizations, including The Post, from his campaign events and his threats to revoke White House credentials of journalists he doesnt like. Milbank noted that, since dozens of senior correspondents didnt meet the new standards either, they all serve at the pleasure of Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and
therefore, in theory, can have their credentials revoked any time they annoy Trump or his aides. (The White House press secretary told the Post the move was a result of security concerns, not a desire to crack down on specific journalists.)

Some seemed concerned that the new rules are an attempt to exert more direct control over the White House press corps, after an incident involving CNN reporter Jim Acosta in November. Acostas press pass was revoked following a contentious press conference in which the CNN reporter repeatedly asked the president questions about immigration policy that Trump refused to answer, and then refused to hand over the microphone when an aide tried to take it from him. Later that day, Acosta tried to access the White House in the usual way and was told his hard pass had been revoked because of his behavior. Sanders later released a statement saying the CNN reporters pass had been withdrawn until further notice.

CNN went to court to seek an injunction ordering the White House to return Acostas pass, and won. The media company and a number of other organizations that filed briefs in the case argued that the First Amendment protected the medias right to cover the White House, and that this right couldnt be abridged without due process. Judge Timothy Kelly agreed with the latter part of that argument, and said the Trump administration had failed to show why Acostas press pass was being revoked, or, in fact, that any process had been followed at all. Whatever process occurred within the government is still so shrouded in mystery that the government could not tell me at oral argument who made the initial decision to revoke Mr. Acostas press pass, he wrote.

Now, with its new standards for performance and most of the press corps holding passes that have only been issued as exceptions, the White House has a structure in place that could allow it to remove whoever it wishes to remove. That wouldnt necessarily override First Amendment protection for press access (which Kelly didnt rule on), but in the short term it gives the Trump administration new levers with which to control the press corps. Some argue that access to the White House is already almost meaningless, since press briefings are few and far between (there hasnt been an on-camera briefing for 58 days, a new record) and what briefings there are often involve the White House press secretary and/or the president shutting down journalist questions and in many cases outright lying about various details of the administrations behavior or plans.

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I wonder what that "standard" was /sarcasm.
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not fascist at all.
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Sounds good,it's time to weed out fake news
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John_Galt posted...

Sounds good,it's time to weed out fake news

Why dont they revoke Sean Hannity and other Fox News presses.
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Didn't look into it, but CNN was saying the standard was reporters had to swipe in 7 out of 10 work says to be considered still eligible. Only problem is there was no point to them doing that since the White House doesn't hold daily briefings anymore.
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John_Galt posted...

Sounds good,it's time to weed out fake news

More like ensure propaganda.

god bless trump. time to put the garbage news in the garbage can.
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You basically had to have lived at the white house to keep your hard pass. Which is a hilarious thought.
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Fascist in Chief
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#1 Rule of any dictatorship: control or destroy the free press
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HylianFox posted...

#1 Rule of any dictatorship: control or destroy the free press

#2 make thinly veiled jokes to your followers about staying beyond term limits
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This is normal.
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HylianFox posted...

#1 Rule of any dictatorship: control or destroy the free press

Real Americans would never let a dictatorship take root.
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Duncanwii posted...

HylianFox posted...

#1 Rule of any dictatorship: control or destroy the free press

Real Americans would never let a dictatorship take root.

Trump and his supporters aren't real Americans.
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Well thats pretty fucked up
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Tmaster148 posted...

Duncanwii posted...

HylianFox posted...

#1 Rule of any dictatorship: control or destroy the free press

Real Americans would never let a dictatorship take root.

Trump and his supporters aren't real Americans.

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