Senate Impeachment Trial Imposes with New Restrictions on Reporters
Doug Mills/The New York Times
We ran the numbers: There are 1704 news articles covering this topic. 36% (613) are left leaning, 52% (894) center, 12% (197) right leaning.
With Trump’s upcoming impeachment trial, news organizations and journalists’ advocates are challenging the restrictive new ground rules for reporters assigned to cover the trial. While left-leaning articles report that much of the impeachment trial could unfold behind closed doors, right-leaning articles focus on Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s statement on Friday regarding witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial.
A left-leaning article by The New York Times highlights the possibility that much of the impeachment trial could unfold behind closed doors, as impeachment rules and precedent allow the Senate to clear the chamber of journalists and spectators so the Senate can talk privately among themselves. However, senators from both parties said they would like the trial to be as open as possible, as they are well aware of the troubling optics of closing the Senate while debating the future of the president.
A centrist article by NPR reports that reporters are being confined to small cordoned-off sections in areas where there is usually unrestricted access. Reporters cannot approach senators for interviews in the halls surrounding the Senate chamber and cannot walk with senators to continue conversations. In response to the restrictions, almost 60 news organizations signed a letter organized by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press on Thursday urging Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to relax the news restrictions on reporters.
A right-leaning article by The Washington Times focuses on Klobuchar’s statement on Friday that there are some Republicans who would vote to have witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial. In her claim, she said that every trial in Washington history has had witnesses, and that Senator Mitt Romney made it clear that he wants to hear from John Bolton, President Trump’s former national security advisor. The article does not mention the journalist restrictions in the impeachment trial.
From the right
Amy Klobuchar: some Republicans would vote for witnesses in impeachment trial
Washington Times