Press Freedom
CPJ Updates
- Israel-Gaza war brings 2023 journalist killings to devastating high
- 2023 prison census: Jailed journalist numbers near record high; Israel imprisonments spike
- Haiti joins list of countries where killers of journalists most likely to go unpunished
- Ecuador on edge: Political paralysis and spiking crime pose new threats to press freedom
- Deadly Pattern: 20 journalists died by Israeli military fire in 22 years. No one has been held accountable.
- Fragile Progress: The struggle for press freedom in the European Union
- Fragile Progress: Part 1
- Fragile Progress: Part 2
- Fragile Progress: Part 3
Reporter Without Borders
OPC Cheers Reinstatement of WH Credentials for Jim Acosta
New York, Nov. 16, 2018 – The Overseas Press Club of America applauds the federal district court ruling temporarily requiring the White House to reinstate the media credential for Jim Acosta, chief White House correspondent, CNN, whose access was previously revoked.
“I will grant the application for the temporary restraining order,” said U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly in a verbal ruling from Washington. ““I want to emphasize the very limited nature of this ruling.”
Judge Kelly focused on the due process provisions of the Constitution in the absence of a clear process for denying White House access to a reporter.
“Whatever process occurred within the government is still so shrouded in mystery that the government at oral argument could not tell me who made the initial decision to revoke Mr. Acosta’s press pass,” said Kelly.
Additional hearings on the case are expected over the next few weeks to determine whether Acosta’s First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights were violated.
“We are gratified with this result and we look forward to a full resolution in the coming days. Our sincere thanks to all who have supported not just CNN, but a free, strong and independent American press,” CNN said in a statement.
The OPC objected earlier to the Administration pulling Acosta’s press card on the grounds he inappropriately touched a female White House intern who tried to take the microphone away from him during a Nov. 8 Q&A with the President, though video of the incident did not support the claim.
Acosta has served as CNN’s White House correspondent 2013, building a reputation by forcefully challenging President Trump and other administration officials.
The Overseas Press Club is an international association of journalists based in New York City that works to encourage the highest standards in journalism, to educate the next generation of foreign correspondents and to promote international press freedom and the well-being of colleagues in the field.