The National Rifle Association denied press credentials to the Guardian US to cover its annual convention in Louisville, Kentucky, apparently over a restriction on foreign media outlets.
Lois Beckett, a Guardian US senior reporter covering gun policy and politics, tweeted Friday that she was denied access to the event held at the Kentucky Exposition Center. She's instead reported from outside the gathering, for instance writing on NRA members skeptical about presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, who addressed the crowd Friday afternoon in Freedom Hall. The NRA's official news feed has even promoted her coverage.
Guardian US Head of News David Taylor said the NRA declined their credential request on the grounds that the organization is a foreign media outlet, a characterization he rejected.
An NRA spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
The Guardian, a nearly 200-year-old British newspaper and global news site, launched Guardian US in 2011 as a digital-first, U.S.-facing news operation. The Pulitzer Prize board permitted Guardian US into its awards competition the following year, noting that the site "had established a substantial and distinctive presence in the United States with operations in New York.” It won the prestigious Public Service prize in 2014.
"When we won a Pulitzer, we thought that argument had been resolved," Taylor told HuffPost regarding where Guardian US is based. "We are an American news organization covering America for an American audience."
A Guardian spokeswoman stressed that The Guardian, more broadly, should not be considered a foreign outlet given its global reach and operations outside the U.K.
"There is a misconception that the Guardian is a foreign news outlet," she said in an email. "In fact, the Guardian is a global news organization with very strong US operations comprising offices in New York, Washington D.C. and San Francisco, as well as a nationwide team of dedicated journalists."
The U.S.-based operation has put significant resources into covering issues surrounding guns in America, including hiring Beckett from ProPublica in February. Guardian US has also extensively covered police shootings all over America through "The Counted," its award-winning series of articles and database tracking fatalities at the hands of police.
