According to The Daily Beast, the White House is contemplating more stringent criteria for obtaining “hard passes” for journalists. This may lead many reporters to opt for temporary day passes instead. Simon Ateba, the reporter who serves as the White House correspondent for Today News Africa, and other freelancers and independent journalists, are expected to be impacted by this policy change.
If implemented, the new rules would revert to the credentialing criteria for hard passes that were in place during the Obama administration.
In a tweet earlier this month, Ateba stated that he was denied membership to the White House Correspondents Association because they had no evidence of his employment on the editorial staff of a newspaper, periodical, wire service, radio, TV, or any other organization that reports on White House affairs.
In the Obama era, the White House usually granted passes to journalists with accreditation from a chamber of Congress or the Supreme Court. To obtain such accreditation, applicants were required to primarily work as a journalist, be associated with a credible media organization, have a track record of regularly covering Washington, and fulfill other criteria.
While sources have noted that the White House has been considering this change for a year, reporters like Ateba, who have been disruptive in the briefing room, maybe a reason to tighten the rules.
