US requested for more press access during G20: White House

The US government has told the media that despite requests from the administration for more press access, journalists traveling with US President Joe Biden to India for the G20 summit will not get a chance to pose questions to either him or Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they meet in New Delhi.

“This meeting will be taking place at the prime minister’s residence, so, it is unusual in that respect – this is not your typical bilateral visit to India, with meetings taking place in the prime minister’s office and an entire program,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Thursday. “This is the host of the G20 hosting a significant number of leaders, doing so in his home, and he set out the protocols he set out.”

Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Thursday that the administration was “doing our darndest, doing our best” to ensure media access to the president during his India visit. “A slew of officials, including Sullivan, White House communications director Ben LaBolt, deputy national security adviser Jon Finer, and deputy assistant to the president and coordinator for the Indo-Pacific Kurt Campbell all contacted their Indian counterparts to argue for more press access during the visit – to no avail, apparently,” according to a CNN report.

This comes over two months after Modi’s US state visit, when CNN reported that the Indian side was initially reluctant about a press conference and had pushed the idea of a joint statement.

PM Modi and Biden took two questions during a joint press conference in Washington in June. A senior White House official had called it a “big deal”, according to reports.

At the press conference, Wall Street Journal reporter Sabrina Siddiqui had asked PM Modi about free speech and rights of religious minorities. After she was trolled online, the White House had strongly condemned her harassment and termed it “unacceptable” and “antithetical to democracy”.