The rare step, against the Trump-friendly outlet, followed a reporter’s defiance of social-distancing restrictions.
The White House Correspondents’ Association said on Wednesday it was booting a media outlet from its rotation of news organizations that get seats in the White House briefing room after one of its reporters twice defied social-distancing policies amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement emailed out toward the end of Wednesday’s coronavirus task force briefing at the White House, the WHCA board reminded members of its temporary rules, which restrict seating in the room to a rotation of only a little over a dozen journalists a day, separated by more than one seat in the room. The rules also bar journalists from standing along the sides or back of the room, which would typically be packed during a normal briefing.
“Under this policy, we have asked reporters who don’t have a seat not to attend press briefings,” the board’s note read.
“We are writing to inform you that the WHCA Board has voted this evening to remove a news outlet from the rotation for a seat in the briefing room,” it continued. “We did this because a reporter for this outlet twice attended press briefings in contravention of this policy. We do not take this action lightly. This is a matter of public safety.”
The statement did not name the outlet it was kicking out of the rotation, but only Chanel Rion, a correspondent for the fringe conservative cable channel One America News Network, was seen standing in the back of the room when the president called on her to ask a question.
Rion also attended the previous two days of news briefings, standing in the back of the back of the room on Tuesday. The Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday that Rion was approached by a representative for the WHCA who asked her to leave because she wasn’t in the rotation to cover that evening’s briefing. Rion refused, saying she was there “as a guest of Stephanie Grisham,” the White House press secretary, according to the Times.
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A media outlet has been booted from the rotation of news organizations that get seats in the briefing room at the White House after one of its reporters twice defied new social-distancing policies amid the coronavirus pandemichttps://t.co/3uPGSFq8n3
— POLITICO (@politico) April 2, 2020
OANN reporter once again standing in back of WH Briefing in defiance of social distancing requirements set in place by @WHCA. OANN is in the rotation of reporters who get to attend briefings but seem to think they get to play by different rules & put safety at risk. #COVIDー19 https://t.co/XhPjuib65I
— Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCBS) April 1, 2020
OAN reporter to attend briefing as White House guest after being removed from rotation https://t.co/IwFRAtgcUq pic.twitter.com/hXUKHDzxe7
— The Hill (@thehill) April 2, 2020
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