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US Treasury Blocks Some G20 Reporters 08/31 06:12
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. Treasury Department is preventing certain
journalists from covering a finance meeting among the world's most powerful
countries, the latest example of how President Donald Trump's administration
has restricted media access.
Individual reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and
Bloomberg News were not granted credentials to the Group of 20 finance
ministers' meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, the Times reported.
The Treasury has not explained the decision. Treasury Secretary Scott
Bessent told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday that "it has nothing
to do with point of view."
The reporters who've been denied access include the Times' Alan Rappeport,
who has been covering such meetings and the Treasury Department since 2017.
However, another reporter for the Times, Berlin bureau chief Jim Tankersley, is
allowed to attend.
The Times said in a statement that denying American journalists access to an
event in the U.S. is "not just another disturbing effort by the administration
to undermine independent journalism, but a blatant attempt to evade public
scrutiny."
"With the war in Iran, sanctions, the bond markets, and inflation on the
agenda for the G20 finance ministers, the stakes of this gathering are
significant for the global economy and the American people," the Times said.
"Excluding specific reporters and entire news organizations is a disservice to
the public and an assault on press freedoms that we strongly condemn."
Bloomberg News, in a story published Sunday evening, said "numerous"
journalists from the news agency, including some based in Europe and Asia, had
their accreditation requests rejected. It said denying the agency access to the
meeting "undermines media freedom and public accountability."
The Wall Street Journal declined to comment.
Bessent is hosting the G20 meeting, which runs Saturday through Tuesday. It
includes finance ministers, central bank governors and senior officials from
the world's top economies. This year's G20 summit, which involves heads of
state, is being held in December at Trump's golf club in Doral, Florida.
Tensions have been escalating between the U.S. media and the second Trump
administration, playing out both in the public arena and at times in the courts.
For example, the Defense Department declared earlier this year that its
press office had become a classified space inaccessible to journalists. The
ouster came after the Pentagon had demanded that reporters agree to
government-imposed restrictions on their work, prompting most news outlets to
leave the building last fall.
The Associated Press has also sued Trump over access to the White House
press pool. The news organization's access was curtailed for sticking with the
name "Gulf of Mexico" after the administration ordered it rechristened the
"Gulf of America."
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