AHEAD of Donald Trump’s visit to Scotland, I applied for accreditation for three separate press conferences.
One was for when he landed at Prestwick Airport last Friday – we received no response.
The second was for after his bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer yesterday. Access was given to just one Scottish print newspaper, which was picked out of a hat. We missed out.
Finally, for the official opening of his new golf course in Aberdeenshire today, I was told – albeit only after following up – that The National wouldn’t be allowed in either due to “exceptionally high demand”.
Now, truth be told, I did reckon that our viral front page (correctly) calling him a convicted felon might not endear us to the organisers.
But I’m also told that we weren't the only left-leaning outlet to be rejected – including the i newspaper and The Guardian, who I’d consider to be more critical of Trump than the average.
It was a trend during Trump’s first presidency but it has gone into overdrive in his second – sidelining more critical or even neutral news outlets in an awful, if not unsurprising, attack on press freedom.
From the off, Trump has barred the likes of AP and launched lawsuits against NBC and the Wall Street Journal in 2025 – instead giving unprecedented access to far-right outlets like Newsmax and Breitbart, whose rabble of yes men and women journalists are more likely to compliment his golf swing than scrutinise his complicity in an ongoing genocide.
The Scottish media were largely limited in what they could ask the US president during his trip – after all just one print newspaper and one broadcaster was selected for the Monday press conference.
Opportunities were, I understand, also limited at the other engagements.
Worryingly, hours before he made his return stateside, Trump thanked the UK media.
"The media has been terrific, believe it or not. I didn't use the word fake news one time, not one time,” he said.
“Today they're not fake news, they're wonderful news."
That can’t be a good sign.
