# U.S. Treasury Blocks Journalists from G20 Finance Meeting, Raising Press Freedom Concerns
The U.S. Treasury Department has denied credentials to individual reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg News for the Group of 20 finance ministers’ meeting held in Asheville, North Carolina, according to reports. Among those excluded was the Times’ Alan Rappeport, a veteran journalist who has covered Treasury Department and international finance meetings since 2017, though another Times reporter—Berlin bureau chief Jim Tankersley—was permitted to attend. The Treasury Department has not provided an explanation for the decision, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Associated Press that „it has nothing to do with point of view.” Bloomberg News reported that „numerous” journalists from its organization, including those based in Europe and Asia, had their accreditation requests rejected.
The New York Times sharply condemned the move in a statement, calling the denial of access to American journalists covering an event on U.S. soil „not just another disturbing effort by the administration to undermine independent journalism, but a blatant attempt to evade public scrutiny.” The newspaper emphasized the significance of the G20 gathering, noting that issues including the war in Iran, sanctions, bond markets, and inflation were on the agenda—matters with substantial implications for the global economy and the American public. Bloomberg News similarly criticized the decision, stating that denying the agency access „undermines media freedom and public accountability.” The Wall Street Journal declined to comment on the matter.
The incident represents the latest escalation in tensions between the U.S. media and the second Trump administration, with conflicts playing out both publicly and in the courts. Earlier this year, the Defense Department declared its press office a classified space inaccessible to journalists after demanding that reporters agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work, prompting most news outlets to leave the Pentagon building last fall. Additionally, The Associated Press has sued the Trump administration over access to the White House press pool after its access was curtailed for continuing to use the name „Gulf of Mexico” following the administration’s order to rename it the „Gulf of America.”
The G20 finance ministers’ meeting, hosted by Secretary Bessent, runs Saturday through Tuesday and includes finance ministers, central bank governors, and senior officials from the world’s top economies. This year’s G20 summit involving heads of state is scheduled for December at Trump’s golf club in Doral, Florida. The exclusion of specific reporters and entire news organizations from covering a major international financial gathering on American soil raises significant questions about government transparency and press freedom, particularly given the absence of any official explanation for the credential denials beyond the Treasury Secretary’s denial that viewpoint played a role.
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Forrás: https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/us-treasury-blocks-certain-journalists-221657864.html.