Pennsylvania student media organizations denied press access to Trump campaign events

As Democratic and Republican candidates campaign across Pennsylvania, student media outlets have had difficulty gaining access to Trump-Vance events.

The Trump campaign denied press credentials for The Pitt News for both his rally at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and in Butler, though The Pitt News received credentials to cover Vance’s Pittsburgh rally. Other student media organizations across the state have faced similar difficulties covering Trump events.

Cassandra Harris, editor-in-chief of Point Park University’s student newspaper, The Globe, discussed her experience being kicked out of Trump’s rally in Butler earlier this month.

“The security rushed over [and said] ‘Okay, you guys have to leave,’” Harris said. “[I thought] we could stand towards the entrance, but the security guy sees us and says ‘You guys can’t even be on the premises.’”

Harris said she found the situation to be frustrating considering strong Republican advocacy for freedom of speech.

“They were talking about how Harris wanted to take away our freedom of speech, our First Amendment right, and literally at the same time, we got kicked out,” Harris said. “I thought that was really ironic.”

Caleb McCartney, photo editor at The Globe, shared his perspective on the Butler rally. He said he covered it for “over an hour” before being escorted out by event security.

“We didn’t have any issues … but all of a sudden they saw me with my camera,” McCartney said. “They were like, ‘Well, you’re not press, you’re a student journalist, so you’re not real.’”

McCartney described the police at Trump’s events as “intimidating” and “almost like soldiers” compared to the police at Harris’ events. He said the treatment he received from the campaigns reflected their differing approaches towards young voters.

“Given that we are the next generation, for them to be treating us like that goes to show which [candidate] cares more and has much more empathy for the younger generation,” McCartney said.

Eliyahu Gasson, the opinions editor at The Duquesne Duke, registered as an attendee to cover Trump’s rally in Butler after his press credential was denied twice. Inside the rally, Gasson said a campaign staffer attempted to let them into the press pool after seeing their Duquesne media passes, but they were again denied because they lacked Trump campaign credentials. He also said they were later unable to get into a separate invite-only area where they hoped to get better photos of the speakers.

Although their press passes were denied, Gasson said they “got to see more [of] what it’s like to be a supporter of Trump.”

“We were kind of stuck in a lawn with a whole bunch of Trump supporters and food vendors and whatnot,” Gasson said. “I think that was beneficial to us that we got to walk around and talk to supporters and get their opinions and see how they felt.”

Based on his observations, Gasson said he believes the Trump campaign sees “no value in focusing their attention in urban areas, urban campuses and the student media on said campuses.”

“The objective now is to shore up support among those they’ve already concluded will be voting for them,” Gasson said, “and very few of their supporters can be found in cities and urban campuses.”

Annelise Hanson, political staff writer at Pennsylvania State University’s student paper, The Daily Collegian, said she experienced difficulty attending an on-campus event with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

“The only reason I got in is because I was interviewing people in line … I was just lucky,” Hanson said. “We had people sneak in to be able to get pictures, which, for something like that, is less than ideal.”

Hanson said that she felt that Trump’s supporters view most journalists with a high level of suspicion.

“They tend to have a distrust of the media and how they are covered,” Hanson said. “Maybe that just contributes to how they treat the press.”

The Trump campaign did not respond to repeated requests for comment.