Pence Signals Journalist Ban Could Loosen

Vice presidential candidate Mike Pence has signaled that the campaign may lighten up on its policy of excluding some news outlets from events due to their past coverage.

Trump banned the Washington Post from official campaign events after stories he did not like and has done the same in the past with BuzzFeed, Politico and Univision, the Post pointed out at the time.

But in an interview with conservative syndicated radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt last week, Pence signaled there could be some movement on that front, though he made no promises.

Related: Trump Calls ABC Reporter Sleaze

Hewitt said he had an issue with barring some reporters from the Trump campaign.

"I’ve argued about this with Mr. Trump," Hewitt told Pence. "It’s not in the American tradition. Will you argue with him to lift that ban, because reporters are part of the game. And we shouldn’t ban, Republicans should not be afraid of reporters. Will you do that?"

"We’re all talking about that," responded Pence. "I had a long, I have a long history, as you well know, Hugh, of advocating and defending for a free and independent press."

Pence, a former Indiana congressman, pointed out that he had authored legislation creating a national shield law to protect reporters. "So we’re going to have those conversations internally," he said, "and I fully expect in the next 100 days, we’re going to continue to be available to the media, whether they’re fair or unfair, and we’re going to take our case to the American people directly."

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.