FPA Statement on exclusion of News Agencies from White House

Foreign Correspondents strive to avoid partisan bias when reporting on governments, but it is not neutrality but neutering, if we stay silent in the face of the White House Administration’s war on our profession and on our colleagues. 

The Foreign Press Association deplores the exclusion of respected news agencies from the White House, on top of the personal attacks on our colleagues there for fulfilling their professional obligations, and the implied attempts to condition foreign journalists’ visa renewals on their coverage of the Administration.  

Perhaps future dispatches from Washington should carry the warning that “this report was produced under the threat of censorship?”

 We condemn all such attempts to muzzle free speech and accurate journalism and support all colleagues, domestic or foreign, who try to uphold journalistic integrity under pressure.