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Where the BBC has been banned, other than the White House

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Picture:
AFP / Getty Images / Brendan Smialowski

Trump said much of the media was “the enemy of the American people” in his speech yesterday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

White House press secretary Sean Spicer then went on to bar journalists from the New York Times, CNN, Guardian, the BBCand the Daily Mail from attending the daily briefing.

The New York Times called the move: “a highly unusual breach of relations between the White House and its press corps”.

The executive editor of the New York Times, Dean Baquet, said:

Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties

The press briefing was originally scheduled as an on-camera event, but later on in the day the White House announced it would take place off camera.

Conservative publications including Breitbart News were allowed access, along with TV networks including CBS, NBCand Fox News.

The Associated Press and Time boycotted the briefing in protest.

But this isn’t the first time the BBChas been banned from reporting out of another country.

  • In 2015, the Iranian government granted the broadcaster a licence to report on Iran’s nuclear deal. This is the first time the BBC had permission to report in Iran in six years.
  • A ban on the BBC reporting from Zimbabwe was lifted in 2009 after eight years of restrictions from country’s government.
  • In 2015, Rwanda placed an indefinite suspension on the BBC after a row over its 1994 documentary on genocide.
  • In May last year, three journalists were banned from North Korea after being detained over their reporting, which they said spoke ill of the system.
  • The BBC was banned from reporting from Burma for decades, although this has improved in recent years. 

The BBC has commented on the ban, saying it doesn’t quite understand:

You're not alone there, BBC.

More: Fake news isn't a new concept - Hitler called it 'lügenpresse'

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