Take out your Donald Trump’s Cautionary Tales exercise book and turn to the next blank page. At the top write the word ‘Accreditation’. Today we are going to talk about ways this process has been weaponised to silence journalists who might say nasty things about the American president.
Like other entries in your exercise book – yes, I know there aren’t many empty pages left – it will serve as yet another warning about the ways the levers of government and democracy can be manipulated to serve the ends of unscrupulous leaders. You may remember that, previously, we talked about the lessons for other democracies that have been coming out of the White House and referred to the application of these lessons as ‘The Trump Filter’. It applies a simple question: “Could this be misused or abused by a future government or leader, the nature of which we do not yet know?”
Today we are going to talk about the ability of governments to grant or withhold access for journalists to the agencies of state. One way or another, it is accreditation. I say ‘one way or another’ because granting it can be direct or indirect, and it may be used not only to silence journalists but to manipulate what the public gets to see and hear.
Accreditation has a long history. In England in 1557, the Company of Stationers received a charter (the 16th century equivalent of accreditation) conferring on its members the exclusive right to own a press. It not only confined printing to London but also conferred powers of search and seizure to confiscate unauthorised books and pamphlets – monopoly in exchange for censorship. Although he almost certainly is ignorant of that history, Mr Trump is currently employing updated forms of licensing and coercion in pursuit of a ‘tame’ media.
Write in your exercise book: “Accreditation is a form of licensing”. You might add a footnote that licensing of the presses ended in England in 1695 but that other forms of accreditation have endured there and elsewhere ever since. Continue reading “Trump pointer: NZ media should not take access for granted”
