Why do certain people get press passes to the White House and others don’t? Do only certain “special” people get to exercise their freedom of the press rights? On Fox News, A.B. Stoddard said she thought it was wrong that a “major” news outlet (CNN’s Jim Acosta) should be denied access. But how can someone be denied access to an invitation? And by giving him or any of the others in the room special access, are the same rights being denied to all? If one person has a right, do not all have the same right?
Presidential press conferences are not a requirement by law. They are an offering by the president as, for lack of a better word, a courtesy. The first was held in 1913 by Woodrow Wilson and the first that was taped was by President Eisenhower in 1955. The first live T.V. press conference was in 1961 by President Kennedy. In any event, these presidential get-togethers with the press came into existence eons after the Bill of Rights and the inclusive first amendment, freedom of speech.
”I regard it as rather necessary to the carrying on of our Republican institution that the people should have a fairly accurate report of what the president is trying to do, and it is for that purpose, of course, that those(sic) intimate conferences are held.” Calvin Coolidge.
Note the word intimate, Mr. Acosta.
Over time the number of reporters grew, and with space limited the number of invitations was limited to a specified number. Of these, some were, more or less, permanent invitations, and became known as passes. But none were ever deemed “rights.”
The people do like to hear, publicly from their officials, elected or not, and the press had worked reasonably well as a proxy for the voters.
After they became on the record conferences, as recent as Harry Truman the president could…