Silence From Press Industry Group As Trump Administration Purges White House Reporters

A number of journalists are expressing alarm over new White House rules limiting access to the Trump administration, but concern is being raised that the trade organization that represents those reporters has so far been silent on the matter.

Under the new rules, concocted by press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders after a review of reporters’ credentials, journalists will be required to work at the White House for 90 out of 180 days in order to hold “hard passes,” which allow easy access to the building for reporters who regularly cover the administration.

As Politico reported, the new guidelines don’t “consider that reporters are often out for weekends, vacations, campaign-trail reporting, or presidential trips abroad.”

Yet, as one critic noted on social media, the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA)—which claims to “ensure a strong free press and robust coverage of the presidency”—released no statement denouncing the administration for curtailing the free press’s right to report on Trump’s presidency. The group’s silence contrasted with its condemnation of comedian Michelle Wolf in 2018 when she delivered a blistering critique of Trump and other administration officials.

As of this writing, the WHCA has neither tweeted objections to the new rules nor issued any public statements.

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank wrote an op-ed Wednesday describing what he called the “mass purge” of reporters, arguing that the new rules were aimed at limiting the access of journalists who have been critical of the president.

“I strongly suspect it’s because I’m a Trump critic,” Milbank wrote. “The move is perfectly in line with Trump’s banning of certain news organizations, including The Post, from his campaign events and his threats to revoke White House credentials of journalists he doesn’t like.”

Although long-time White House reporters can apply for an exemption, Milbank was denied one, he wrote in The Post.

“There’s something wrong with a president having the power to decide which journalists can cover him,” the reporter wrote.

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The White House’s latest effort to control the free press’s access to the Trump administration was denounced as a “hallmark of authoritarianism” by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).