You can’t just ban reporters
Some public officials simply don’t like being held to account
Every editor occasionally receives the same phone call from the powers that be: mayors, bureaucrats, company presidents, prime ministers even.
And the message usually goes something like this: “I don’t like your reporter. I don’t like the questions she/he asks. I don’t like the articles they write. I won’t talk to them anymore and I demand you take him/her off the beat.”
Editors rarely acquiesce. Meanwhile, all kinds of officials have tried to “ban” or remove reporters from public buildings for various reasons and almost always with little success.
Some do it officially, to their chagrin. Some simply don’t know any better.
Others just make it difficult for some reporters to do their jobs, which is the intent. They don’t want to answer questions they don’t like. They don’t want to read stories that cast them or their organizations in a bad light. They don’t want to be reminded that the public has a right to know.
Sometimes they just plain don’t like certain reporters. And to be fair, some reporters are not that likable. But in public places, unless they are breaking the law or acting inappropriately, reporters have a right to ask questions and monitor how taxpayers’ dollars are spent (and sometimes remind politicians of the law) no matter how annoying they may sometimes seem.
And it’s worth remembering they are just doing their jobs: asking questions, and demanding answers from officials who should know they answer to the public.
The issue is in the news because, after a testy exchange with U.S. President Donald Trump at a news conference this week, Jim Acosta of CNN had his White House credentials revoked.
In defending this extraordinary move, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted a video of the exchange and accused Acosta of “placing his hands” on a White House intern trying to take away his microphone.
The only problem? Sanders tweeted an altered video. She could have tweeted the official C-SPAN video complete with sound, which shows Acosta was at worst hogging the microphone — and perhaps the spotlight — but he clearly did nothing inappropriate.
Acosta may well have been spoiling for a fight, but clearly so was the president. The entire tawdry affair is an indication of how deeply dysfunctional the system is: a president who doesn’t know and doesn’t care about history, rules or respectful conduct; a White House that tolerates and even propagates misinformation; a press corps that is more antagonistic toward this administration than others (and that’s saying a lot); and an electorate losing faith in it all.
The video Sanders tweeted was easy to debunk and has been thoroughly discredited, but in the moments before that was accomplished, it went viral on social media. Those who believe such things generally don’t stick around for the aftermath.
It’s just another untruth from a White House full of them and a president who is widely acknowledged, even by his supporters, to be a serial liar. No wonder good journalism is more crucial than ever.