Banning reporters from Kansas Senate floor the latest front in GOP’s war on the press
Journalists work for the public, so when our access is limited, so is yours. Reporters have been relegated to the gallery of the Kansas Senate. And this is just is the latest in the nationwide push to keep the public in the dark about important issues affecting Americans daily.
Republican leaders in Iowa barred journalists from the state Senate floor, so reporters will have to cover the state lawmaking process at a distance, from the chamber’s upstairs galleries.
And this session, the Kansas Senate joined the list of governmental agencies enacting policies that further distance lawmakers from the people they are supposed to represent. Naturally, free speech advocates are concerned about any restriction on government accountability.
Steve Morris, a Republican from Hugoton and former Kansas Senate president, said as much in a recent op-ed in the Kansas Reflector.
“Senate leadership’s decision to move Kansas Statehouse reporters farther away from the action sends the wrong message and won’t help the people of Kansas better understand the discussions and votes,” Morris wrote, concluding Republican leadership had no good reason to remove journalists from Senate action.
The public can observe legislative proceedings online, Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson said. Sure, if they have full time to do so. But even then, can they ask questions of lawmakers in real time? Of course not. As Morris wrote, news gatherers must have “the ability to provide more in-depth and relevant coverage of the proceedings that simply cannot be reflected online.”
Journalists do more than observe. They ask follow-up questions. They dig for more information. They fact-check. To do so requires more access to officials, not more attempts to hide.
If there has been a bright side to a global health emergency, the ability to watch most legislative proceedings from anywhere has been one, Emily Bradbury, executive director of the Kansas Press Association, told us Friday. However, having access to the debate and proceedings in real time makes reporting more accurate and transparent — something the Kansas Senate surely understands. That’s why they don’t want us around.
This story was originally published January 14, 2022 at 12:22 PM.