FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 24, 2017
CONTACT: 202-270-8488, media@acludc.org
Trump Administration Exclusion of Media Outlets Violates Nation’s Core Values
ACLU-DC Condemns White House Decision to Bar Core Media Outlets - Including The New York Times, CNN, Politico and the LA Times - from Today’s Press Briefing.
Statement of Monica Hopkins-Maxwell, Executive Director, ACLU of the District of Columbia:
“There are four essential roles of a free press in society. Beyond publicizing issues that need attention and connecting people with each other in a civil society–a free press educates citizens so they can make informed decisions and serves a watchdog function to hold government leaders accountable to the people. A free and robust press is the bedrock of democracy.
Today’s actions by the Trump administration were an aggressive move by the government to control the media narrative. Excluding disfavored news organizations from press briefings contravenes many of our nation’s core values, including transparency, evenhandedness, and of course the four essential roles of a free press within our society.
Rewarding outlets for favorable coverage and punishing others for criticism is the kind of behavior we expect from autocrats, not leaders of a constitutional democracy.”
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