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. (Poynter)
Tillerson leaves for Japan next Wednesday. “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. (TVNewser)
The trip was scheduled for the purpose of discussing North Korea’s hostile missile tests as well as U.S. economic interests in the region. The letter indicated the State Department offered “help” to news organizations that wanted to travel on their own, but said that’s not enough. (Washington Examiner)
The group requested a meeting with State Department officials. The letter comes amid growing concerns over access at the State Department, which only started holding press briefings this week. Tillerson himself has yet to give an interview since taking the helm. (HuffPost)