Opinion
The MLA should not choose who may report
Two of our reporters were refused accreditation this week. The reason given was standards; the reason meant is coverage.
The Media Licensing Authority has refused Assembly accreditation to two of this paper’s reporters. It has not said why. It has said only that the applications did not meet “standards,” a word the authority uses the way a landlord uses “discretion.”
Both reporters filed the Red Shore and Shaft 9 investigations. One is a northerner who has covered the Assembly for a decade. The authority declines to name the standard, the assessor or the appeal. That is not licensing. It is selection.
We will keep reporting from the public gallery and from the districts, where our readers are. But the Assembly should know that when a press office closes a door, the public does not stop needing the room. It only stops being able to see inside it.