White House Correspondents’ Association President Christi Parsons said it was “unacceptable” for Moroccan King Mohammed VI to ask U.S. news reporters not to take notes on a meeting between him and Vice President Joe Biden.
Parsons’ reaction came Wednesday after a White House reporter said in a pool report that journalists were not allowed to take notes while they were admitted to view roughly 30 seconds of the king’s encounter with Biden.
Pool reports are write-ups of public events by individual reporters selected to represent the regular White House press corps. The pool reports are sent out to an extensive list of media professionals.
“It’s totally unacceptable,” Parsons said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “ We appreciate that different nations have different customs, but journalists shouldn’t be hamstrung in performing their duties, even if the setting is a brief photo op.”
Biden was in Morocco as part of a five-day trip to the region. Biden spoke with Mohammed VI about U.S. cooperation with Morocco on economic development and mutual plans to combat the Islamic State terrorist network, according to the White House.
Karen DeYoung, a Washington Post reporter traveling with Biden, said in her report that media were allowed to briefly take photos of Biden and the king but were asked by the king’s security not to take notes. She obliged.
When asked what the proper protocol is for a reporter when he or she is placed in such a situation, Parsons said, “We trust our colleagues’ judgment in situations like these.”
“I’ve never heard of that,” said Jen Bendery, a White House reporter for the Huffington Post. “Not taking notes? Why is a pool reporter even there?”
Julie Mason, a former Examiner White House reporter who now hosts Sirius XM’s “Press Pool,” also said she had never heard of a reporter being told not to take notes.
“Mostly we concern ourselves with just getting into events,” she added. “I am not sure that a restriction on note-taking would necessarily raise too many eyebrows.”
