Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump can 'do better' in treatment of press: WHCA

A joint op-ed from members of the White House Correspondents Association warns of curbs in freedom of the American press

Alarmed by the treatment of journalists by presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, an organisation representing White House correspondents said the US will not have a free press if its President gets to choose journalists and media organisations.

In a joint op-ed published in The USA Today, the outgoing president of White House Correspondents Association Carol Lee, and its incoming president Jeff Mason, said that they are concerned both with the rhetoric directed at the media in this campaign and the level of press access to the candidates.

"Both Clinton and Trump can do better," they wrote.

Lee and Mason pointed out that Trump has banned reporters and media outlets if his campaign does not like a story.

"Similarly, refusing to regularly answer questions from reporters in a press conference, as Hillary Clinton has, deprives the American people of hearing from their potential commander-in-chief in a format that is critical to ensuring he or she is accountable for policy positions and official acts," the joint op-ed said.

"We believe that whenever media access is restricted, the public's right to know is restricted. Transparency is the key to a well-informed electorate, and without a well-informed electorate, our democracy is put in jeopardy," they said.

"The United States will not have a free press if its president gets to choose which journalists and which media organisations are allowed access to the executive branch. We will not have a truly free press and an informed electorate if the president doesn't believe he or she should be held accountable to enquiries from the media," they wrote.

It is a reporter's job to cut through the rhetoric from candidates, scrutinise whether their policy proposals would benefit Americans in the way they claim and question the viability of their promises, the op-ed said.

"If we cannot do our job, then the American people cannot do theirs," they wrote.