While MSM Bashes Trump, New York Times Photographer Claims He Gives More Access Than Obama
A photographer from the New York Times is asserting that President Donald Trump is allowing photographers more access than his predecessor.
Photographer Doug Mills has reportedly covered the administrations of both Trump and former President Barack Obama.
When asked by C-SPAN to compare covering Obama versus President Donald Trump, the media veteran claimed that photographers are being provided “a lot more” access to the current administration, according to The Washington Examiner.
“We’re getting a lot more, I mean from a photographer’s standpoint, we get a lot more access to the president,” said Mills according to C-SPAN.
“I see him more on a daily basis than we did with Barack Obama,” he added.
This account would seem to contradict past allegations regarding media access to Trump.
According to The Examiner, the president has been scrutinized before by members of the media for “lack of access and transparency.”
“Sometimes three or four times a day, sometimes five times a day we will see him,” stated Mills, referring to the frequency with which White House photographers are able to take pictures of the president.
“And we’re able to photograph him in different situations. Some meetings, some bill signings, executive orders, stuff like that,” he added. “We’re going non-stop, and there’s so many different pictures, you know?”
Mills went on to explain how the increased access to the president has allowed him to become more creative with his work, discussing the photographer’s use of high angle shots.
“Us having more access to the president, we’re in the Oval Office a lot longer than we normally have been, and therefore you are able to be creative.”
“I was able to put a camera up high in the air and look down on his desk,” said Mills, referring to an image of the president’s hands as he waited to sign an order.
Mills has been openly critical about lack of media access to the president before.
A 2013 article from The New York Times, details photographers’ protests of White House restrictions under then President Obama.
According to The Times, The White House Correspondent’s Association and 37 other news organizations submitted a letter to then-White House press secretary Jay Carney, criticizing what photographers reportedly said “amounted to the establishment of the White House’s own Soviet-style news service,” permitting privileged access to Obama.
The article went on to say that organizations reportedly argued that the White House had expanded their restrictions to Obama’s everyday activities.
“The way they exclude us is to say that this is a very private moment,” Mills was quoted as saying in the article.
“But they’re making private moments very public.”
Mills’ recent sit down with C-SPAN will air in its entirety on Sunday, Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. ET.
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