Journalists who have worked abroad in countries with oppressive governments expressed outrage and concern after the White House revoked the press pass of CNN's Jim Acosta.
The big picture: The incident at Wednesday's press briefing has brought the White House's confrontation with the press to a head. Journalists who have worked alongside repressive regimes are noticing concerning parallels to the administration's hostilities with the media that covers it.
- The New York Times' Melissa Chan tweeted a thread about her experience in China, saying: "I never thought I'd see this crap happen in the US. And this 'most reporters are okay but @Acosta is aggressive' thing is the EXACT line Chinese propaganda printed about me. It's a tactic, people."
- The National's Joyce Karam tweeted: "This happened to me with Assad regime in Syria in 2007. Never envisioned a day will come when a US reported would be banned from White House for asking Qs. Sorry, Jim."
- The Washington Post's Global Opinions writer Jason Rezaian, who was jailed by the Iranian government for two years, tweeted: "The @WhiteHouse has revoked Jim @Acosta’s press credentials for trying to ask the president a question? That’s the sort of thing that happens in #Iran not America. I shudder to think what could be next..."
