Bureau chiefs ‘deeply concerned’ that Rex Tillerson is ditching the press on Asia trip

D.C. bureau chiefs from major news organizations, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the wire services, Fox News and CNN sent a letter to the State Department earlier this week protesting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s decision to ditch reporters on his upcoming trip to Asia.

“We were deeply concerned to hear that Secretary Tillerson plans to travel to Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo to hold key meetings about some of the most important foreign policy issues for the United States without any traveling press,” reads the letter, which was also signed by NPR, the BBC, Voice of America, the Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy and the Agence France-Presse.

“Not only does this situation leave the public narrative of the meetings up to the Chinese foreign ministry as well as Korea’s and Japan’s, but it gives the American people no window whatsoever into the views and actions of the nation’s leaders.”

The letter, which was sent on Tuesday, also notes that the State Department’s offer “to help those reporters who want to travel unilaterally is wholly unrealistic, given the commercial flight schedules, visa issues and no guarantee of access once they are there.”

The letter also requested a meeting with State Department officials to discuss access to Secretary Tillerson and press availability on trips abroad with the State Department.

Tillerson’s decision to spurn reporters is unusual, especially in light of North Korea’s recent nuclear missile test that violated sanctions and raised alarms in the international community. CNN’s Jake Tapper called the trip “insulting to any American who is looking for anything but a state-run version of events.”

Secretary Tillerson’s trip, which begins next week, will take him to several countries, including Japan, South Korea and China. The State Department recently resumed press briefings after a weeks-long dry spell.

Here’s the letter:

Dear Mr. Hammond and Ms. Peterlin,

We are the Washington bureau chiefs and editors of major print, wire, television and radio news organizations. We are writing to request a meeting with both of you as soon as possible to discuss press access to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and coverage of American foreign policy going forward.

We were deeply concerned to hear that Secretary Tillerson plans to travel to Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo to hold key meetings about some of the most important foreign policy issues for the United States without any traveling press. Not only does this situation leave the public narrative of the meetings up to the Chinese foreign ministry as well as Korea’s and Japan’s, but it gives the American people no window whatsoever into the views and actions of the nation’s leaders. And the offer to help those reporters who want to travel unilaterally is wholly unrealistic, given the commercial flight schedules, visa issues and no guarantee of access once they are there.

But the issues go beyond just the March 14-19 trip and affect the day-to-day coverage of the nation’s top diplomat and U.S. relations with the rest of the world.

Please let us know when a small group of us could come by to see if we can work out an arrangement that suits all of us.

Thank you,

Wendy Benjaminson
Acting Washington Bureau Chief
The Associated Press

Bryan Boughton
Fox News Channel
Washington Bureau Chief

Elisabeth Bumiller
Washington Bureau Chief
New York Times

Edith Chapin
Executive Editor
NPR

Paul Danahar
BBC Americas Bureaux Chief

Sam Feist
CNN Washington Bureau Chief

Peter Finn
National Security Editor
The Washington Post

Keith Johnson
Acting Managing Editor, News
Foreign Policy

Weston Kosova
Washington Bureau Chief
Bloomberg

David Lauter
Washington Bureau Chief
Los Angeles Times/Chicago Tribune

Yolanda Lopez
Central News Director
VOA

David Millikin
North America bureau chief
AFP