Environmental Protection Agency officials Wednesday barred reporters at its summit event in Washington related to toxic chemicals — the second day of clashes between the agency and media over access to an EPA summit.
Politico reported that reporters from its news outlet as well as those from a least two other publications were not allowed to cover the Wednesday event.
"The summit was focused on an important public health crisis that has affected drinking water supplies across the country, and chemicals that are present in the bloodstreams of nearly all Americans," Politico editor Carrie Budoff Brown said in a statement, declaring the agency should have opened both days of the discussion.
"We believe it is important that the news media have access to the entirety of this discussion to keep the public informed with fact-driven, accountability coverage of this important issue — we would much rather be writing about the agency's efforts to address this health problem than about reporters being excluded."
The agency created a media firestorm Tuesday by letting only a select group of reporters inside to cover the first hour of introductory remarks, including comments by Administrator Scott Pruitt, but then were escorted out.
Later Tuesday, after reports from the Associated Press that one of its journalists was forcibly ejected, the EPA reversed itself and let reporters back in for afternoon events.
On Wednesday, however, the agency said no reporters at all would be allowed to attend the summit, arguing it was limited to officials handling chemical oversight and state regulators.
The Society of Environmental Journalists told Pruitt in a letter Wednesday it "strenuously objects" to the agency's "selective barring of news reporters."
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