The US Treasury Department has banned reporters from several outlets from the G20 meeting | Today’s news
(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Treasury Department barred journalists from several media outlets, including Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal, from covering the Group of 20 finance ministers’ summit in Asheville, North Carolina, this week amid jittery global markets and the U.S.-Iran conflict.
The ministry gave Bloomberg no explanation for its decision to reject multiple requests for accreditation to the summit of economic policy leaders and central bank governors.
The US will chair the G20 in 2026, and the Treasury Department is controlling access to this year’s meeting, which runs from Sunday to Tuesday. The ministry had previously said it expected to host more than 200 journalists from dozens of countries.
Markets are closely watching information coming from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent after he intervened to support the yen and the bond market, making him one of the most activist finance ministers in history.
Long-term U.S. bond yields hit multi-year highs in August, driven in part by renewed concerns about inflation and rising U.S. national debt, which reached more than $40 trillion this month. Bessent has also come under scrutiny for his handling of the economic pressure campaign aimed at forcing Iran into talks to end the war launched by President Donald Trump.
The Treasury Department also denied credentials to a US-based New York Times reporter, the paper said. Germany’s finance ministry successfully lobbied the finance ministry to accredit a Times reporter accompanying Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, according to ministry officials familiar with the matter.
A separate push by high-level German diplomatic officials to secure accreditation for the Bloomberg reporter traveling with Klingbeil was unsuccessful, the officials added. Other Bloomberg reporters based in the US, France, Italy, Japan and China were also denied access.
“Denying access to the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors — a forum that undoubtedly serves the global public interest — undermines media freedom and public accountability,” a Bloomberg News spokesperson said. “We will continue to advocate for full access to the press while reporting the proceedings fairly and accurately.”
The exclusion of several major news outlets from an international event like this has little precedent among countries that have previously hosted G20 meetings – including Russia and China – and is unprecedented for the US government.
The New York Times quoted a spokeswoman for the paper, Nicole Taylor, as saying the decision was “not just another troubling effort by the administration to undermine independent journalism, but a blatant attempt to avoid public scrutiny.” The Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One possible analogy is the Obama administration’s attempt in 2009 to exclude Fox News from interviewing Kenneth Feinberg, who was then serving as the Treasury Department’s “payment czar.” But the White House, which organized the interview, backed down after other networks threatened a boycott.
Since the president’s second term last year, the Trump administration has moved to more broadly restrict press access to events of public interest, including changes to the pool of reporters able to cover presidential events. The Department of Defense also banned media organizations from maintaining offices in the Pentagon.
The Federal Reserve said Chairman Kevin Warsh, who co-hosts this year’s meeting of Treasury ministers with Bessent, will also attend and may deliver brief remarks at the start of some meetings. The Fed declined to comment.
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