The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) along with more than 40 other journalist-supported organizations released a joint statement that condemns how the White House has chosen to “penalize independent reporting on the government and its activities.”
The NPPA joins the American Society of Magazine Editors, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Inter American Press Association, Reporters Without Borders, and a long list of news media and journalist guilds in signing the joint statement, led by the Society of Professional Journalists. The groups are calling on the Trump administration to lift its ban on the Associated Press (AP) from White House and Air Force One events “and cease punishing news organizations based on their reporting.”
Last week, the AP was indefinitely banned by the Trump Administration because the global news outlet refused to change its style guide recommendations for the naming for the body of water to the south of Texas. The United States officially changed its naming convention for this body of water to the Gulf of America, but the bulk of the countries in which the AP operates do not recognize this change and continue to know it as the Gulf of Mexico. The AP acknowledges the name change in the United States, but, given that the US is in the minority, it has not changed its style guide recommendations unilaterally, drawing the ire of the White House.
The NPPA, speaking on behalf of press photojournalists in the US, condemned the action as while AP photographers were not initially believed to be part of the ban, they were being lumped together with AP journalists and denied entry by the White House.
“This disturbing challenge to journalistic independence is part of a troubling pattern that extends well beyond the White House press corps. For example, the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission has taken extraordinary steps to investigate and intimidate broadcasters over their internal policies and constitutionally protected editorial decisions. These actions by the head of this historically bipartisan, independent regulatory body set a dangerous precedent and risk giving the government greater control over which voices are heard,” today’s joint statement reads.
“The administration also has evicted longtime news organizations from the Pentagon pressroom, giving their desks to news outlets that favorably covered the administration’s agenda.”
That statement is referring to the Trump administration’s decision to throw out CNN, The Washington Post, The Hill, and War Zone from their designated workspaces at the Pentagon, replacing them with Newsmax, The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller and The Free Press.
“The First Amendment is an integral part of the U.S. Constitution that President Trump swore to ‘preserve, protect and defend.’ He also signed an executive order on day one to “ensure that no Federal Government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.” The president must abide by his oath of office and executive order and ensure that First Amendment principles are forcefully upheld,” the letter adds.
The full statement can be read on the Society of Professional Journalists website.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
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