The White House News Photographers Association (WHNPA) has written a letter stating that the US Vice President’s campaign hasn’t created the space for the same number of photographers who traveled with President Biden.
In an “unprecedented reduction in access” according to the letter, they claim that Harris has reduced the number of journalists from 13, to nine.
The letter also claims that the reduction in their numbers affected the news reporters, whose ranks in the White House press travel pool fell from four to one.
The letter was sent on August 29, and while it acknowledges that the campaign said it needed the seats for increased security in the wake of the attempted assassination attempt on Donald Trump. However, it mentions broader exasperation about the lack of media access to Harris, who has had few unscripted moments with the media since becoming the democratic nominee.
On the topic of the reduction of seats available to press on Air Force 2, WHNPA President Jessica Koscielnia, who sent the letter, said:
“If a chaser plane with additional journalists (of all media formats) is not made available to accommodate, we strongly encourage the WHCA to reallocate the current seats in a manner that is fair to photojournalists and further representative of the travel pool – which always has four traveling photojournalists.”
Doug Mills, a long-time Washington photographer who has covered multiple presidencies and campaigns said:
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“It’s unfortunate that the still photographers are the most affected by the negotiations that have happened with the White House Correspondents’ Association and the vice president’s office.
“Each reporter writes a different story. Each photographer has their own eye. This election is too historic to be covered by one still photographer on Harris’s plane.”
The letter was signed by six major news organizations – the Associated Press, Getty, AFP, Reuters, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
The Harris campaign responded on Wednesday to say that the pool that traveled with the Vice President on Air Force 2 had always been nine, not 13, which is the number that travel on Air Force One with the President. It also said that despite looking in to adding seats to Air Force Two and providing a “chaser plane” the cost was too high.
There is a sentiment among photographers that they are being shunned in favor of reporters, and that the WHCA – which has overlapping membership with the WHNPA – didn’t fight hard enough for photographers.
“If the roles were reversed here and the reporters were limited in their numbers the way the still photographers are, it would not be accepted,” Mills said.
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