Donald Trump Ending 'Media Blacklist'

Donald Trump is doing away with his long-held "blacklist" of certain media outlets that he feels covers him unfairly, ending a months-long practice that was unprecedented for the presidential nominee of a major political party, CNN is reporting.

The Washington Post, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed and Politico were among major media outlets that were banned from receiving press credentials to his events and gaining access to his press conferences. Reporters working for those outlets were still allowed to attend his events as members of the general public.

Trump provided CNN with a one-sentence statement on the matter: "I figure they can't treat me any worse!"

While outlets were barred from formally covering Trump events, the GOP nominee still regularly conducted one-on-one interviews with reporters from the banned outlets. For instance, The Washington Post did hours of interviews with Trump for a book it was publishing.

According to the transcripts published by the Post, Trump waved off aides who told him he had other appointments and at one point solicited political advice from one of the reporters.

The lift on the media blacklist goes into effect Thursday, CNN reported. Reporters from Politico and the Daily Beast tweeted that they were denied credentials for Trump's Wednesday event in Philadelphia.

The move follows a decision by Hillary Clinton to let her traveling press corps fly with her on her campaign plane and ask her questions while in the air.

Trump's blacklist began before the first votes were cast in the Republican nominating process, when the Trump campaign banned the Huffington Post and the Des Moines Register from his events.

Image via Gage Skidmore, Flickr, used under Creative Commons