Galley gatekeepers: the politics of press credentials.

AuthorWalker, Jesse
PositionCitings

IN SEPTEMBER, THE right-wing webzine WorldNetDaily was granted credentials to cover the U.S. Congress. It had to fight for that access, though, in a battle that revealed some uncomfortable facts about the way the Washington media guild conducts its business.

Last January, WorldNetDaily had been told that it wouldn't be issued those credentials. A Few months later, the Standing Committee of Correspondents--the panel of journalists charged by Congress with guarding the press galley gates--rebuffed the publication's appeal. The webzine ended up going to the Senate Rules and Administration Committee for help, arguing that the panel's decision had violated the site's constitutional rights to due process, equal protection, and freedom of the press.

Why had WorldNetDaily been barred? In a February letter to the site, William Roberts of the correspondents committee explained that "publications operated, funded or affiliated with tax-free special interest or issue advocacy groups do not qualify for accreditation." Since WorldNetDaily is partially owned by the Western Journalism Center, a tax-exempt organization created to "return the press to its traditional role as watchdog on government," it was disqualified. Roberts added that, to be accredited, Internet publications "must provide daily news with significant original reporting content." For reasons left unstated, the committee did "not...

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