 The news organizations' letter to White House press secretary
Jay Carney detailed a number of recent examples in which
photographers weren't allowed to cover presidential events that
were deemed "private" by administration officials — even though
the White House indicated their newsworthiness by releasing its
own photos of the same events. "As surely as if they were
placing a hand over a journalist's camera lens, officials in
this administration are blocking the public from having an
independent view of important functions of the executive branch
of government," the letter states, adding that the restrictions
imposed by the Obama White House represent a major break from
the practices of past administrations.
The news organizations said Thursday that the White House
limits on access raise constitutional concerns about
infringement on First Amendment press freedoms and have "a
direct and adverse impact on the public's ability to
independently monitor and see what its government is doing."
The press coalition, which included The Associated Press,
major broadcast and cable networks, wire services, online
services and newspapers, said the access limits also undercut
Obama's pledge to create a more transparent government, and
impose "an arbitrary restraint and unwarranted interference on
legitimate newsgathering activities."
The groups requested an immediate meeting with Carney on how
to restore full press access.
Simultaneously, the presidents of the American Society of
News Editors and the Associated Press Media Editors sent a
letter to their members urging them to stop using handout photos
and video from the White House.
"We must accept that we, the press, have been enablers," the
ASNE-APME letter states. "We urge those of you in news
organizations to immediately refrain from publishing any of the
photographs or videos released by the White House, just as you
would refuse to run verbatim a press release from them."
The AP has a policy against using handout photos from the
White House unless they are of significant news value and shot
in areas that the press doesn't expect to have access to, such
as the Situation Room or the private residence areas of the
White House.
Obama spokesman Josh Earnest cast the news organizations'
protests as part of the natural tension that exists between
journalists and those they cover.
"The fact that there is a little bit of a disagreement
between the press corps and the White House press office about
how much access the press corps should have to the president is
built into the system," he told reporters. "If that tension
didn't exist, then either you or we aren't doing our jobs."
Earnest also defended the White House's release of handout
photos taken by its staff photographer, saying that allows the
public to have greater access to the inner workings of the
administration.
"What we have actually done is use a range of new technology
to provide people greater access to the president," Earnest
said. "To the American public, it's a clear win."
Among recent presidential events for which the White House
distributed its own photos but denied access to
photojournalists:
-
An Oct. 11 meeting with Pakistani human rights activist Malala Yousafzai.
-
An Aug. 26 meeting with African-American faith leaders.
-
A July 30 meeting with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators
and Vice President Joe Biden.
-
A July 29 meeting with former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton.
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"While certain of these events may appear 'private' in nature, the
decision of the White House to release its own contemporaneous
photograph(s) suggests that the White House believes these events
are, in fact, newsworthy and not private," the coalition letter
states.
Kathleen Carroll, AP executive editor and senior vice president,
said too many public events "are now recorded only by photographers
who work directly for the White House, resulting in images that are
little more than visual press releases."
"We aren't asking to make pictures of the president putting on
his socks in the private quarters every morning," Carroll said. "We
are asking simply to be allowed back into the room when he signs
legislation, shakes hands with other leaders, and otherwise
discharges his public duties."
Santiago Lyon, AP's director of photography, said in a recent
speech about press access that when White House photos replace —
rather than supplement — independent photos, the result is "images
that put the president in a consistently rosy light."
"Independent photographers strive to show things as they actually
are, not how the protagonists would like to see them," Lyon said.
"Showing the details, making choices of angles, all of these things
are the vocabulary of photography."
In addition to the AP, those signing the coalition letter were
ABC News, Agence France-Presse, American Society of News Editors,
American Society of Media Photographers, Associated Press Media
Editors, Associated Press Photo Managers, Association of Alternative
Newsmedia, Association of Opinion Journalists, Bloomberg News, CBS
News, CNN, Dow Jones & Co. Inc., Fox News Channel, Gannett Co. Inc.,
Getty Images, Lee Enterprises Inc., The McClatchy Co.,
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services, National Press Club,
National Press Photographers Association, NBC News, New England
First Amendment Coalition, News Media Coalition, Newspaper
Association of America, The New York Times Co., Online News
Association, Professional Photographers of America, Radio Television
Digital News Association, Regional Reporters Association, The
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Reuters, Society of
Professional Journalists, Tribune Co., The Washington Post, White
House Correspondents' Association, White House News Photographers
Association, Yahoo Inc.
[Associated
Press; NANCY BENAC, Associated Press]
AP White House
Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.
Follow Nancy Benac on
Twitter at
http://twitter.com/nbenac.
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