In a move that seems more in line with the previous administration, White House officials have banned a San Francisco Chronicle reporter from covering the president in the Bay Area. Reporter Carla Marinucci used her camera phone to capture protesters at a fundraiser at the St. Regis Hotel, which violated rules specifically for “pen and pad” reporters. So she’s no longer part of the press pool, despite earlier claims that this White House would be the most transparent in history,
In the video (seen here), you can hear the protesters singing “We paid our dues, where’s our change?”
“We’ve come full circle here,” Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Pew Foundation’s Project for Excellence in Journalism told me today. “A newspaper reporter is being punished because she took pictures with a moving camera. We live in a world where there are no longer distinctions. The White House is trying to live by 20th century distinctions.”
To be fair, Marinucci’s rule breaking didn’t just affect the president’s image, but it could be seen as a slight to her fellow reporters too. When you’re part of a pool there are guidelines about the information collected, and it’s not really fair if you’re breaking them so you can get the scoop. But, the administration’s harsh actions just make them look bad — and thin-skinned.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
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