Comment: "Blocking, Shoving The Latest In Rough Treatment Of Journalists"

"For journalists covering government, the Environmental Protection Agency’s strong-arming of a reporter and barring of several news organizations Tuesday was one of the more obvious signs of officials seeking to conduct business under wraps.

Oh, and it happened again, at least the press-barring stuff, on Wednesday. The National Press Club urged a summit between newsmakers and news organizations and condemned the abnormal and possibly illegal exclusion of the public.

"Pushing reporters around is what happens in dictatorships, not in a democracy where the press's right to represent the public is enshrined in the Constitution," said Andrea Snyder Edney, president of the National Press Club. "And why were reporters being kept out of a meeting of major news significance at which a senior official was speaking on the public record? This is unacceptable.""

David Beard writes for Poynter Morning Mediawire May 23, 2018.

Source: Poynter, 05/28/2018