State Department Throws Free Beacon Reporter Out of Iran Nuke Talks Briefing

June 29th, 2015 3:24 PM

Arrest that reporter for attempting to commit blatant act of flagrant journalism!

The Washington Free Beacon today carried a report from Adam Kredo about the State Department removing him from a briefing on the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna, Austria. He was even threatened with arrest by security. Here is how the State Department of "most transparent administration in history" dealt with Kredo:

VIENNA—Officials with the Department of State threatened to call security Monday on a Washington Free Beacon reporter who was attempting to report on a briefing held by senior Obama administration figures in Vienna on the eve of an expected nuclear agreement with Iran.

Two State Department officials booted the Free Beacon from a room where Wendy Sherman, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, was talking to reporters, despite the Free Beacon’s being credentialed by the Austrian government for the ongoing Iranian nuclear talks.

...Melissa Turley, a State Department official, approached a Free Beacon reporter and demanded that he leave the room.

“You’re not registered with the U.S. press,” Turley said after being informed that the Free Beacon was attending the event.

“You have a press pass from the [European Union], not from me,” Turley said, after being informed that the Free Beacon was officially credentialed to cover the event.

Turley and her colleagues then threatened the reporter, instructing him to leave the room or be dealt with by “security.”

...“‎The State Dept-hosted background briefings ‎are for reporters traveling with Secretary Kerry and those who are members of the State Dept Press Corps, who are from outlets credentialed to attend the daily press briefings in Washington, D.C.,” Turley said in an email.

So only properly vetted "journalists" need apply. Meanwhile no word yet if the other reporters in Vienna will protest Kredo's removal. Hello AP? Hello UPI? Hello Reuters?