White House photographers decry ‘unprecedented reduction in access’ to Kamala Harris

The White House News Photographers Association condemned the “unprecedented reduction in access” to Vice President Kamala Harris, in a letter urging her aides and campaign team to allow more photojournalists around the Democratic nominee for president. 

WHNPA President Jessica Koscielniak expressed her concern about the shrinking number of seats for reporters and photographers aboard the vice presidential plane – Air Force Two – in the weeks since Harris replaced President Biden on the Democratic ticket, the Aug. 29 letter, obtained by Axios, shows. 

“Since Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee for President of the United States, the travel pool has been reduced from thirteen to nine, an unprecedented reduction in access to a major presidential party candidate,” Koscielniak wrote.   

“Every other representative of the press pool has been allowed to continue traveling without interruption, while the four independent news photographer seats have been downgraded to one,” she noted. 

“The WHNPA strongly calls on the Harris campaign to reconsider the number of media seats allowed on Air Force 2,”  Koscielniak continued, noting her understanding that the reduction in seats was so additional security personnel could fit on the modified Boeing 757 aircraft.

The photographers association president argued that “further accommodations are required to maintain a fair and free press,” and suggested that the Harris campaign add a “chase plane” for additional media.   

“If a chaser plane with additional journalists (of all media formats) is not made available to accommodate, we strongly encourage the WHCA to reallocate the current seats in a manner that is fair to photojournalists and further representative of the travel pool – which always has four traveling photojournalists,” Koscielniak wrote. 

She noted that campaigns have historically accommodated an expanded travel pool during general election cycles and pleaded that the Harris campaign restore photojournalists’ access to the vice president “immediately.”

Koscielniak argued that new restrictions will deprive Americans of some of “the most important images in politics” at a crucial time. 

“In the end, with an abundance of news coverage from presidential candidates and misinformation, it is the American citizens and voters who rely on independent visual journalism for factual representation of the 2024 Presidential campaigns that will ultimately lose out by this reduction of access,” she wrote. 

Koscielniak told Axios that her organization “did not receive a response” from Harris’ team and that “the situation has not improved.”

The vice president’s office finally responded to the WHNPA’s missive late Wednesday – after the outlet inquired about the reduction in photojournalists – but said  Koscielniak’s suggestions were “not viable.”

Harris, 59, has been criticized by the media and former President Donald Trump for rarely engaging with the press. 

She’s only done one sit-down interview since Biden, 81, endorsed her on July 21 to run in his stead. 

The Post has reached out to the Harris campaign and the White House for comment. 

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