Republican lawmakers bar journalists from statehouse floors

[applegrove]

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-business-iowa-legislature-4688b35753bf6ec86c2d8224b6e5bb00

Republican lawmakers bar journalists from statehouse floors

By SAM METZ (AP) February 18, 2022

"SNIP.....

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Republican lawmakers in several states are scaling back access to government business, extending pandemic-era rules that restrict when journalists can report from the floors of state legislative chambers and, in effect, making it easier to dodge the press.

As the public returns to the corridors of state capitols, new rules approved in Iowa last month and in Utah this week critically limit reporters’ access to lawmakers, sparking an outcry from media organizations and press advocates.

“It is critical that there is some accountability with respect to those who have tremendous power, such as you,” Lauren Gustus, the executive editor of The Salt Lake Tribune, told Utah lawmakers in a committee hearing last week, where she testified against such rules.

These rule changes limit when journalists can work on the floor of the legislature where lawmakers sit, making it easier for elected officials to avoid interacting with the press, even when they take up high-profile topics like election laws, taxes and abortion.

......SNIP"

[Deuxcents]

1. How do they do it?

They must all subscribe to the same autocracy playbook as one state is successful with these decisions and then another will follow. Voters cannot be so unaware..

[RainCaster]

2. This only works if they bar lobbyists, too

Of course, that will never happen.