White House Threatens to Strip Reporter Simon Ateba of Press Room Credentials Over Repeated Outburst
Source: Mediaite
The White House has warned reporter Simon Ateba that if he keeps up his disruptive antics in Karine Jean-Pierre’s press briefings, the result will be the loss of his entry pass.
Ateba, the owner and White House correspondent of Today News Africa, posted on Twitter that he received a letter from the White House, warning him his hard pass to the grounds might be suspended or revoked. The letter made reference to multiple instances where Ateba derailed White House press briefings by talking over his fellow reports and demanding answers to his questions.
Ateba has repeatedly wound up in conflict with Jean-Pierre and his fellow journalists because of his outbursts. As Jean-Pierre shunned his questions because of these disruptions, Ateba has claimed that the Biden administration has discriminated against him.
The Washington Post reported that the letter is a first from the Biden White House’s press office. The Post also noted that the White House put new rules into effect for the renewal of hard passes, and Ateba is “unlikely to qualify under the new criteria, which require reporters to first qualify for a congressional or Supreme Court press pass to receive one for the White House.”
Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/news/white-house-threatens-to-strip-reporter-simon-ateba-of-press-room-credentials-over-repeated-outbursts/
Ateba’s response: “send money”
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we can do it
(13,024 posts)
BigOleDummy
(2,274 posts)Want you to pray for them and send money. smh. ALL of them!!!
barbtries
(31,308 posts)act like one.
Rebl2
(17,743 posts)done a year ago or more
LenaBaby61
(6,991 posts)Damn, stop playing nice 
Thi fool is a complete asshole.
Bernardo de La Paz
(60,320 posts)He is the reporter AND the owner of the outlet. Might not be a solo operation (might have staff) but seems small.
RexLipton
(110 posts)Pleeeeeeze! Look at how they're persecuting me!
AllaN01Bear
(29,498 posts)what got me, him begging for money.
Mz Pip
(28,456 posts)He’s using the “I’m a victim!” grift.
Paladin
(32,354 posts)
PlutosHeart
(1,445 posts)Would check him for guns or anything. Sounds like he is on edge.
The Grand Illuminist
(2,040 posts)And must be dealt with accordingly.
spudspud
(647 posts)
stopdiggin
(15,463 posts)for the response (thus far) in this thread. (I was really kind of worried .. )
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LeftinOH
(5,648 posts)He seems more like a random blogger rather than a journalist -- and how did he get a press pass in the first place?
Grins
(9,459 posts)" (A) new criteria, which require reporters to first qualify for a congressional or Supreme Court press pass to receive one for the White House."
This was the standard for decades. Until about 2005. When first getting a press pass from Congress or the Supreme Court WAS the standard to get a WH pass.
And then, in 2003 (and remind me who was president in 2003?) and without telling anyone, Talon News “reporter” Jeff Gannon got himself a WH press Pass. He was White House correspondent for "Talon News!"
Gannon's softball questions were such puffery he was slammed by Jon Stewart. But his questions aroused the interest of other WH reporters, who knew bupkis about him, and asked, "Who is this guy?"
And so they went looking. And discovered he worked for a fake Reich-wing 'news' site, had ZERO journalist history, had an alias, had a tax evasion problem, had pictures of him posted on the internet of him posing like the 'Barberini Faun', had his press pass and was called on to ask questions of Ari Fleischer a full month before Talon "News" ever existed!
Oh, and that before he was a WH 'reporter,' he was a bi-sexual male prostitute. "8-Inches! Uncut!"
Ursus Rex
(486 posts)I also recall reading here and elsewhere that there were allegations he was actually a long-lost abduction victim, etc.
Man, the Bush Admin definitely teed up things for Trumplethinskin et al.
Chrysanthemum
(225 posts)Please forgive my pedantic tendencies; I was once a teacher.
Criteria is a plural noun. Criterion is the singular form.
Grins
(9,459 posts)I don’t mind the correction and to learn what I missed!