Thanks to new White House rules announced in May, the number of reporters with White House access has plummeted by 31 percent over the past three months as 442 reporters have lost their press credentials.
The rules state that journalists and reporters must henceforth work full-time for a news organization, live in the D.C. area, regularly cover the White House, submit to a Secret Service investigation, and apply to Congress or the Supreme Court for press credentials.
More notably, the rules also empower the Biden administration with more authority to expel journalists who don’t toe the line. Journalists like, say, Simon Ateba, who’s become a thorn in their side over his willingness to call out their bull.
As a result, Ateba has reportedly refused to renew his pass, not that he would have even met the new requirements in the first place.
“[H]e … would not have met the new stiffer criteria, which require hard pass holders to demonstrate proof of employment by a Washington-based outlet and to be credentialed by a press gallery in the House, Senate or Supreme Court,” according to Politico.
As of Saturday, Ateba hadn’t yet publicly tweeted anything specifically about him losing his pass, although he had pinned the following tweet to the top of his profile:
As I continue to face oppression, discrimination and attacks from many sides in my attempt to do my job and report the truth, I’m calling on all my followers to
1- pray for me
2- support my work with a one-time donation of just $1 by clicking here: https://t.co/TeDHc2SFzn pic.twitter.com/cRsfcyrTCA
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) July 6, 2023
Critics for their part believe the new rules are purposefully designed to target journalists who work for conservative news publishers.
For example, when CNN’s Jim Acosta and Playboy’s Brian Karem were booted from the White House during the Trump administration, the entire mainstream press rushed to their defense.
Yet this time, “few reporters are standing up in opposition to the new rules,” with even the White House Correspondents’ Association not taking a stance, according to The Daily Signal.
Dovetailing back to Ateba, while he’s not saying anything at the moment, he previously expressed distaste for the new rules back in May.
“I think it may be used to kick out unfriendly and tough reporters. The rule will be used against people like me who have been trying hard to ask questions. It’s simply a threat against the First Amendment,” he told Fox News at the time.
He also posted a tweet accusing the administration of specifically targeting him.
“The @WhiteHouse is changing the rules for press hard passes to target me. … It’s crazy what’s going on. How can a guy come from Africa and you have to change the rules because of him?
BREAKING: The @WhiteHouse is changing the rules for press hard passes to target me. But I qualify for all those things as we just filed our taxes, are registered with the District of Columbia and have our address in DC. I studied journalism in college, received two degrees, have… pic.twitter.com/NMvVF4WSaC
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) May 5, 2023
The White House spokesperson for their part defended the rules in a statement to Politico.
“At the time we initiated this process in early May, roughly 40 percent of hard pass holders had not accessed the White House complex in the prior 90 days. We think this demonstrates we’ve led a thoughtful and thorough process that preserves robust media access to campus for everyone who needs it—whether that be with a hard pass or a day pass,” the spokesperson said.
But plenty of critics don’t believe the White House, including Matthew Anthony Harper, the White House correspondent for InterMountain Christian News. According to The Daily Signal, his attorney sent a cease-and-desist letter on July 24th objecting to the rules.
“The requirement of accreditation by a press gallery in either the U.S. Congress or the Supreme Court appears to be an effort to purge smaller, regional news outlets who cannot afford enough reporters to continually cover both the White House and another branch of government,” attorney Paul A. Hoffman wrote.
“This necessarily leads to fewer news outlets covering essential government functions and to more reliance only on large news outlets whose perspectives are often different from smaller, regionally based news organizations representing unique constituencies around the country. Accordingly, these new restrictions appear aimed at reducing press access to the White House and are both arbitrary and discriminatory against small, diverse news outlets that will otherwise go unrepresented at White House press conferences.”
The Daily Signal’s own White House correspondent is also slated to lose his pass.
The @WhiteHouse is requiring journalists to apply for press credentials from Congress or SCOTUS in an attempt to target conservative journalists.
If our @FredLucasWH doesn’t play by Biden’s new rules, he’ll get booted from the White House (after 14 years of stellar coverage). pic.twitter.com/2WjetT8bQC
— The Daily Signal (@DailySignal) August 4, 2023
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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