The Associated Press (AP) explains why it would not accept a handout photo of the meeting between the Dalai Lama and President Obama today. It feels that in democratic countries access should be granted to provide an independent view of the situation. They also detailed a few situations in which they would accept a handout photo such as from a newsworthy new product release or from non-democratic countries who don’t allow press access, for instance Sri Lanka.
I wholeheartedly agreeing. If we as the press allow ourselves to be denied we’ll get walked all over. More power to the AP!
