Bureau chiefs ‘deeply concerned’ that Rex Tillerson is ditching the press on Asia trip

D.C. bureau chiefs from major news organizations, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the wire services, Fox News and CNN sent a letter to the State Department earlier this week protesting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s decision to ditch reporters on his upcoming trip to Asia.

“We were deeply concerned to hear that Secretary Tillerson plans to travel to Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo to hold key meetings about some of the most important foreign policy issues for the United States without any traveling press,” reads the letter, which was also signed by NPR, the BBC, Voice of America, the Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy and the Agence France-Presse.

“Not only does this situation leave the public narrative of the meetings up to the Chinese foreign ministry as well as Korea’s and Japan’s, but it gives the American people no window whatsoever into the views and actions of the nation’s leaders.”

The letter, which was sent on Tuesday, also notes that the State Department’s offer “to help those reporters who want to travel unilaterally is wholly unrealistic, given the commercial flight schedules, visa issues and no guarantee of access once they are there.”

The letter also requested a meeting with State Department officials to discuss access to Secretary Tillerson and press availability on trips abroad with the State Department.

Tillerson’s decision to spurn reporters is unusual, especially in light of North Korea’s recent nuclear missile test that violated sanctions and raised alarms in the international community. CNN’s Jake Tapper called the trip “insulting to any American who is looking for anything but a state-run version of events.”

Secretary Tillerson’s trip, which begins next week, will take him to several countries, including Japan, South Korea and China. The State Department recently resumed press briefings after a weeks-long dry spell.

Here’s the letter: