FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 19, 2018
NAHJ responds to White House decision to reinstate hard pass of Jim Acosta, new decorum “rules”
Washington, D.C. – Today, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ (NAHJ) President Hugo Balta applauds the determination made by the White House to reevaluate the permanent hard pass status of Jim Acosta. The announcement, contradicts initial White House intentions Friday evening that were made public earlier this morning. NAHJ responded with a short statement demanding the White House desist in actions that continued targeting the CNN Chief WH Correspondent and consequently threatened other journalists and press access.
In addition to reinstating Acosta’s hard pass, White House officials have set new “rules” in place, which Balta will review and include as a topic of discussion in the upcoming meeting with Mercedes Schlapp, Director of Strategic Communications and White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Bill Shine. The meeting, which was initially set for last Wednesday, has been rescheduled to follow the Thanksgiving holiday.
“We are thrilled that this chapter has come to a close and Jim, in addition to the rest of our colleagues can continue to focus on doing their job and serving the American people,” commented Balta. “These past weeks have been a testament to the strength and necessity our First Amendment rights hold in our democracy.”
Following the November 7th dispute between the White House and Jim Acosta, news organizations and national leadership organizations around the country rallied together in an unprecedented show of solidarity for freedom of the press. NAHJ has expressed appreciation for the ongoing support and solidarity given by organizations such as: CPJ, RCFP, WHCA, ASNE/ONA, NABJ, NLGJA, NHMC, Fundamedios USA and SPJ.
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About NAHJ The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) is the largest organization of Latino journalists in the United States and dedicated to the recognition and professional advancement of Hispanics in the news industry. The mission of NAHJ is to increase the number of Latinos in the newsrooms and to work toward fair and accurate representation of Latinos in news media. Established in April 1984, NAHJ created a national voice and unified vision for all Hispanic journalists. NAHJ has approximately 2,300 members, including working journalists, journalism students, other media-related professionals and journalism educators. For more information please visit NAHJ.org or follow on Twitter @NAHJ.
Media Contact:
BA Snyder
Veritas Group for NAHJ
512.630.6337
BA@VeritasAustin.com