White House ‘Gadfly’ in Feud With Press Secretary Says He’s Not Afraid of Efforts To Restrict His Access to Press Room

A notorious “gadfly” reporter, Simon Ateba, says he’s not worried about the White House’s reported plans to tighten access to its press room, saying he’s faced far greater threats in his career than the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre.“I have [been] attacked by pirates on the Gulf of Guinea with an AK47 to my head, kidnapped in Nigeria and dumped in the woods and left for dead but survived,” Mr. Ateba told the Sun. “I don’t worry about my hard pass.”The Daily Beast’s Confider newsletter is reporting that the White House plans to return to Trump-era “hard passes” for members of the press to cut down on what have become routine interruptions during press briefings, most notably by Mr. Ateba.The chief White House correspondent for Today News Africa recently sparred with Ms. Jean-Pierre during a celebrity visit to the press room by actors from a hit Apple TV+ show, “Ted Lasso.” During that press briefing, Mr. Ateba claimed that the press office had ignored his questions for seven months, leading an exasperated Ms. Jean-Pierre to say, “We’re not doing this. We’re not doing this.”According to Confider, anonymous sources have confirmed the White House’s intent on returning to requiring so-called hard passes for journalists to enter the White House grounds without having to submit a daily application in advance. This could make it harder for backbencher reporters such as Mr. Ateba to gain access to the briefings. The hard pass policy was commonplace during President Obama’s administration, but was loosened during the Trump years, allowing for more unconventional reporters to make it into the briefings. Now the Biden administration may soon be cracking down again.“America is still the greatest country on earth where the First Amendment protects the freedom of the press,” Mr. Ateba told the Sun. “I hope journalists will become journalists again, not activists, not judges, and that they will write my story, not their judgment of me.”Mr. Ateba went on to tell the Sun he will be hard to dislodge.“I have a hard pass,” Mr. Ateba said via Linkedin messages. “I have two degrees in journalism, written thousands of articles, trained many people at several American universities, have spent my entire life working as a journalist.”Mr. Ateba went on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” earlier this month to air his grievances with the White House Correspondents’ Association, which plays a role in administering hard passess, as well as with Ms. Jean-Pierre.“They refuse to renew my membership,” Mr. Ateba told Mr. Carlson about the WHCA. “They are trying to help the press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, because when you do the right thing, when you ask the right question, they try to silence you and try to censor you.”The Sun contacted the association but it declined to comment on Mr. Ateba’s claims. The association did provide Mr. Ateba with a letter explaining its reasons for denying his application to the association, which was signed by the association’s executive director, Steven Thomma.Mr. Thomma wrote that the group “did not see evidence that you are ‘employed on the editorial staff of a newspaper, periodical, wire service, radio, TV, or other news-gathering organization that reports on the White House’ as required by our by-laws.”“You have tweeted publicly that you do not receive a salary, and declined opportunities to provide information about your employment status,” Mr. Thomma wrote. “This is a requirement of all members of the association.” Mr. Ateba also attracted the ire of other members of the White House press corps, including the White House correspondent for Reuters, Jeff Mason.“If you have grievances, you should bring them to her later,” Mr. Mason said. “The press corps is tired of dealing with this.”

White House ‘Gadfly’ in Feud With Press Secretary Says He’s Not Afraid of Efforts To Restrict His Access to Press Room

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