*Image and illustration by David Restiano*
With President- elect Donald Trump’s inauguration less than a week away, many are worried that journalists may not have a spot in the White house to cover the incoming administration.
Last week, at a press conference, Trump attacked CNN calling it “fake news” and calling BuzzFeed a “failing pile of garbage.” He also yelled at CNN reporter Jim Acosta.
His attitude concerned many including members of the press.
“Mister President-elect, you are not always going to like or agree with everything that is reported by the news media,” wrote Steve Scott, President of the New York Press Club in a letter to Trump. “But, an integral part of a free and open Press is to field questions from a broad cross-section of journalists, including those with whom you disagree. “
“To shout down a journalist, refuse to take his question and label his news organization as “fake news” serves no good purpose,” the letter continued, requesting to “end this practice of exclusion.”
Angelo Carusone, President of Media Matters, a non-profit, which seeks out and reports conservative misinformation in the media, also shared his concerns. Carusone launched a petition to tell the White House press corps to take action before it’s too late.
“It was a terrifying indicator of how these things unfold,” Carusone told DIVERGE, regarding Trump’s press conference. “It’s a reminder that things have actually been getting consistently worse with respect to Trump’s conduct toward the press since he started running and from my perspective, they needed some impetus to act.”
The petition, which has been signed by over 270,000 people asks journalists, especially in the White House Correspondents’ Association to step up to this type of behavior:
“If a free press has any hope of surviving the next 4 years, we need the journalists covering Trump to nip this in the bud and send a clear message: If Trump blackballs one of you, the rest of you need to stand up.”
Carusone also shared concerns about the right winged channels that Trump is supporting including Right Side Broadcasting – On The Right Side of History, which has access to Trump’s Facebook page so they can live broadcast and One American News, the network that hired Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager from CNN.
“I think he’s building up alternative media that is specifically the sort of right-winged media that he won out with and at the same time he’s discrediting or trying to discredit and attacking other legitimate outlets,” Carusone explained.
He also pointed out that he is afraid that people will say that this is a conspiracy to have journalists coordinating that but it’s important to know “that is actually why organizations like that exist.”
And his concerns were proved to be true on Sunday when Esquire magazine reported that Trump had plans to evict the Press Corps from the White House.
“According to three senior officials on the transition team, a plan to evict the press corps from the White House is under serious consideration by the incoming Trump Administration,” the article stated. “If the plan goes through, one of the officials said, the media will be removed from the cozy confines of the White House press room, where it has worked for several decades. Members of the press will be relocated to the White House Conference Center—near Lafayette Square—or to a space in the Old Executive Office Building, next door to the White House.”
The White House Press Corps responded:
“We object strenuously to any move that would shield the president and his advisers from the scrutiny of an on-site White House press corps,” Jeff Mason, chair of the WHCA, wrote in an email on behalf of the group’s members.
“The briefing room is open now to all reporters who request access. We support that and always will,” Mason added. “The WHCA will fight to keep the briefing room and West Wing access to senior administration officials open.”
Carusone explained that this just validates the concern of those who signed the petition.
“This talk further validates the concerns of 270,000 petition signers: that the Trump administration presents a clear and present danger to a free press and that urgent action is needed from the White House Correspondents’ Association. Failure to act will result in Trump continuing to suppress them while simultaneously replacing their access with loyal propaganda and extremist outlets like Breitbart, One America News and ‘Trump TV.'”
He told DIVERGE that he will continue to rally and reach out to journalists so they can unite and stand up for their fellow journalists.
