Amerikaanse media sturen open brief aan Trump

Media sturen open brief aan Trump

De open brief is ondertekend door de voorzitters van achttien belangrijke journalistieke organisaties, waaronder de National Press Photographers Association en de National Press Club. De brief is een reactie op recente incidenten waarbij Trump groepen journalisten heeft verboden hem te volgen en zijn afschuw uitsprak over de manier waarop er constant verslag wordt gedaan. De journalisten zijn bang dat Trump de transparantie van de media, die de voorgaande presidenten altijd hebben geaccepteerd, in gevaar zal brengen.

11 september 2001

Iets wat vaak als voorbeeld van het belang van de pers in Amerika wordt genoemd is het bezoek van George W. Bush aan een school in Florida op 11 september 2016. De aanwezigheid van journalisten maakte het mogelijk dat Bush in één keer de hele natie kon bereiken. De journalistieke organisaties zijn nu bang dat daar verandering in komt als Trump de persvrijheid gaat aanpakken. 
Dit is de volledige tekst van de open brief:
Dear President-elect Trump,

We, a group of diverse journalism associations representing thousands of journalists from the nation’s capital to every corner of the country, begin this letter on a hopeful note. Your administration is a blank slate and we are eager to work with you to perpetuate one of this nation’s great strengths: our freedom of the press.

As the new leader of the free world, we expect that you will preserve longstanding traditions that ensure coverage of the Trump presidency. The idea of a press pool that covers all of the president’s movements is one that dates back to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration. Every president of both parties has treated this important tradition with respect. The role of the press pool is critically important to our country, whose citizens depend on and deserve to know what the president is doing. This isn’t about access for the press itself, it’s about access for Americans in diverse communities across the country. Your constituents receive information from a variety of platforms to learn about what our president is doing.

Being president is an enormous responsibility and working with the White House Correspondents’ Association to ensure journalists’ access is one small but important part of that. We call on you to commit to a protective press pool from now until the final day of your presidency. We respectfully ask you to instill a spirit of openness and transparency in your administration in many ways but first and foremost via the press pool.

We also call for access to you via regular press conferences and pool sprays and to your key decision-makers. You have an opportunity as incoming president to set the tone for your staff speaking on the record for the sake of transparency. We also hope your administration will improve response rates to FOIA requests as a way to show the American people, and the world, that the republic belongs to the people.

A great America depends on having sunlight on its leaders. We expect the traditions of White House press coverage to be upheld whether in Washington or elsewhere. Again we, a joint group of diverse journalism associations, speak as one as we respectfully ask that you take these steps to ensure access to our members covering your administration.