Staff Reports
The establishment’s mission to protect its beloved puppets continues unabated, and now it’s the Vice President’s turn under the microscope. President Joe Biden has enjoyed four years of being shielded from any serious pushback from the establishment media, and it appears the same strategy is being rolled out for Kamala Harris. However, cracks are starting to show in this carefully crafted bubble as some journalists are waving their flags of dissent, demanding accountability from the Vice President’s less-than-transparent camp.
On August 28, Jessica Koscielniak, president of the White House News Photographers Association, voiced her concerns in a letter lamenting the unprecedented, and quite frankly, absurd, reduction in media access to a major candidate from the Democratic Party. Kamala Harris’s campaign decided it needed a smaller traveling press pool, slashing the number of journalists on Air Force Two from 13 to a paltry nine. This decision has hit visual journalists particularly hard, leaving them to wonder if the Vice President has something to hide or if she simply doesn’t want them snapping unflattering pictures.
New: In an Aug. 28 letter obtained by Axios, the WH News Photographers Association said Harris' team was engaging in an "unprecedented reduction in access.”
The VP’s team didn’t respond until last night after we asked about the letter
W/ @sarafischer https://t.co/OOch8LDqWX pic.twitter.com/qkl5MaStBr
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) September 12, 2024
The WHNPA president pointed out that while Harris’s team has been tightfisted with their own press access, other representatives of the press pool have continued to travel without any interruptions. Considering that only one independent news photographer was allowed on the Vice President’s plane, Koscielniak strongly urged the Harris campaign to reconsider this questionable decision regarding media access on Air Force Two. Notably, the silence from Harris’s camp was deafening until Axios inquired about the issue, suggesting that they might just be perfecting the art of evasion.
When the Harris team finally did respond, it was a classic political non-answer, claiming ongoing communication with the White House Correspondents’ Association while exploring “solutions to increase press access.” One has to wonder what “solutions” entail when transparently avoiding press scrutiny seems to be the primary strategy. Koscielniak voiced disappointment, noting that this restricted press access is unprecedented, emphasizing that a nominee should enable broader access, not just play hide-and-seek.
The overarching theme emerging from this unfolding circus is that Kamala Harris seems committed to following in Biden’s footsteps by ducking any tough media engagements. Axios highlighted that, like Biden, her approach resembles a carefully scripted avoidance of scrutiny. The point is clear; if the Democrats are serious about making their case to the American public, they must embrace the press rather than cower behind it.
The rise of dissent within the media ranks paints a promising picture for conservatives who have long witnessed such tactics from the establishment. The growing chorus of discontent from photojournalists—as they pioneer their way past the veils of media manipulation—indicates something important: the veil is lifting, and Harris’s missteps are becoming too blatant to ignore. If the establishment truly wishes to count on support from its journalists instead of creating a rift, it’s time for Kamala Harris to acknowledge the glaring spotlight and stop behaving like an invisible woman. After all, transparency is usually the best policy, unless, of course, the goal is simply to keep the world in the dark.
