The Shop Talk panelists discuss the latest clash between the Trump administration and a journalist. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blew up at NPR's Mary Louise Kelly when she asked him a question related to Ukraine. He claimed they agreed to limit the conversation to Iran.
The next day Pompeo accused Kelly of lying when she set up the interview but he offered no evidence. NPR did offer evidence that shows Kelly said they would talk about Iran and Ukraine, and Kelly said she never takes any topic off the table.
A few days after the dust-up, the administration removed Michele Kelemen of NPR from the press pool covering Pompeo’s trip to the UK, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The Shop Talk panelists agree that no topic should be considered off-limits. They support Kelly and many other journalists support her too.
They also said bullying tactics from government officials are not acceptable. They said the administration acts as though we live in a monarchy rather than a democracy.
Shop Talk is a weekly panel discussion about journalism issues. This week’s program featured Will Buss, who teaches in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at Western Illinois University and advises the student editors at the Western Courier, the students at student radio station The Dog, and the WIU chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists; Rajvee Subramanian, who teaches in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at Western Illinois University; and TSPR News Director Rich Egger.
