Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
The US Treasury Department has denied credentials to some journalists seeking to cover a Group of 20 finance ministers’ meeting, in the latest instance of media access being restricted under President Donald Trump’s administration. Individual reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg were not cleared to attend the gathering in North Carolina.
The Treasury has not explained the decision. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Associated Press in an interview on Sunday that “it has nothing to do with point of view”. The move has drawn strong criticism from news organisations, which said it raises concerns over press freedom and public scrutiny.
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The reporters denied access include New York Times journalist Alan Rappeport, who has covered the Treasury Department and such meetings since 2017. However, the newspaper’s Berlin bureau chief Jim Tankersley has been allowed to attend.
The New York Times said in a statement that denying American journalists access to an event in the US is “not just another disturbing effort by the administration to undermine independent journalism, but a blatant attempt to evade public scrutiny”. It added, “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. Excluding specific reporters and entire news organisations is a disservice to the public and an assault on press freedoms that we strongly condemn.”
Bloomberg News said denying 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 from Saturday through Tuesday and includes finance ministers, central bank governors and senior officials from the world’s top economies. This year’s G20 summit involving heads of state is scheduled to be held in December at Trump’s golf club in Doral, Florida.
Tensions between the US media and the second Trump administration have been rising, both in public and in the courts. Earlier this year, the Defence Department said its press office had become a classified space that journalists could not access. That followed Pentagon demands last autumn that reporters agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work, after which most news outlets left the building. Overall, the Treasury’s denial of access to selected reporters has added to concerns over media restrictions around major government events.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
