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Free press isn't free under White House's onerous rules (Editorial)
Muzzling the press is chapter one in the authoritarian ruler's playbook. By the Founders' design, the president of the United States is not a king or dictator. He doesn't control the media, or get to decide which reporters are assigned to cover him.
A free press isn't free if the government imposes rules on what reporters can ask and how they must ask it. That violates the First Amendment. Period.
Banning reporters from asking follow-up questions or challenging the president's statements, under threat of taking away their access to the White House, hobbles the watchdog function of the media. White House reporters will be looking over their shoulders, calibrating the consequences, every time they ask tough questions. Meanwhile, the president will be able to dodge accountability and lie to the American people with even more impunity.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 23 2018, @07:52PM
...further down the same op ed:
> Going forward, if the president or his spokesperson dodges one reporter's question, the next reporter called on should ask the same question until it is answered. If that results in "suspension or revocation" of a journalist's credential, so be it. Let the president shadow box in an empty briefing room.
And from the White House Correspondents Assn:
https://www.whca.press/2018/11/19/whca-statement-on-restoration-of-press-pass/ [www.whca.press]
> The White House did the right thing in restoring Jim Acosta’s hard pass. The White House Correspondents’ Association had no role in crafting any procedures for future press conferences. For as long as there have been White House press conferences, White House reporters have asked follow-up questions. We fully expect this tradition will continue. We will continue to make the case that a free and independent news media plays a vital role in the health of our republic.
>
> –Olivier Knox, WHCA President