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ABC News president: 'We’ve expressed our concerns' to White House over transparency

ABC News President James Goldston has pledged to “stand with our colleagues who cover the White House" and "protest” if the White House does not operate with transparency, he said Wednesday in response to a petition imploring the broadcasting company to take a stand over the White House’s decision to exclude news organizations from a press gaggle last Friday.

“We’ve expressed our concerns to the White House that it operates in a way that’s open, transparent and fair,” Goldston said in a statement. “And we will continue to stand with our colleagues who cover the White House and to protest when any government official fails to live up to those standards.”

Earlier Wednesday, Goldston received a petition signed by more than 230 former ABC News executives, correspondents, producers and other former staffers calling on him to refuse to take part in White House briefings if news organizations are barred from attending. The petition, a copy of which was reviewed by a POLITICO reporter, referred to an incident Friday during which several news outlets were barred from an informal press briefing with White House press secretary Sean Spicer. Among the signers was former ABC White House correspondent Sam Donaldson, who was known for his tough questioning of White House officials.

“The recent exclusion of certain news organizations from a White House briefing is an alarming new development enacted by an administration that has declared war on respected media outlets — including CNN, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, POLITICO and the BBC,” the petition read. “This is a disturbing new tactic from an administration that has branded the news media an ‘enemy of the people’ and seeks to undermine the traditional role of a free press in American democracy. It is clearly retaliation against news organizations for reporting facts that are embarrassing to this President and his staff.”

“… We urge you to join other news organizations and take a public stand,” the petition added. “Refuse to take part in any future White House briefings based on an ‘invitation list’ of ‘who’s in/who’s out.’”

News of the petition was first reported by The Associated Press.

The White House decision Friday to bar several outlets was immediately condemned by members of the media, many of whom noted that Trump-friendly outlets like Breitbart and One America News Network were allowed entry while several organizations that have reported critically on the Trump administration were not.

Time and the AP sat out the press gaggle in solidarity with the barred outlets, and the news outlets who did attend the gaggle faced criticism for attending. Editors at McClatchy and The Wall Street Journal subsequently said their reporters would not have attended the gaggle had they known that other news outlets were prohibited from attending.

ABC News White House correspondent Cecilia Vega, who attended the press gaggle with Spicer, pressed Spicer over why he excluded other news outlets when there was space in the room for more reporters. Spicer maintained that the exclusion of the outlets was a matter of space, not a retaliatory move for unfriendly coverage. After the informal briefing, Vega and other reporters shared audio recordings and notes with reporters who were not allowed into the gaggle.

