President Donald Trump lost a key battle in his vendetta against the press as a federal court ordered his administration to restore journalist Brian Karem’s security credentials given the lack of specific rules for the press covering the White House. Karem had earlier won a temporary restoration of his pass pending a final decision in federal court. The case helps to clarify the law concerning press passes and the First Amendment. (Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, September 24, 2019, by Gabe Rottman and Jordan Murov-Goodman)
Margaret Valenti, The Pavlovic Today, September 24, 2019, argues that revoking Karem’s security credentials was unprecedented as reporters have traditionally been part of an “unruly mob” without suffering any loss of credentials. The revocation is part of a move to intimidate the press and paint it as the “enemy of the people.” Valenti, writes, “There is a lack of press briefings, an open disdain for journalists, an encouragement others to threaten journalists, and the suspension of the hard passes of journalists in The White House press corp for no reason other than their asking of questions or their comments made towards a White House guest who looked to instigate confrontation; all of these actions to a President who wants to delegitimize respectable journalists. Why? So he can get away with destroying democracy because as long as The White House press corp is around he cannot and will not get away with it.”
For earlier FAC coverage on the issue, click here, here and here.