RTL Lëtzebuerg journalist Annick Goerens is in the US covering the upcoming elections, but after attending an election event hosted by the Republican VP-pick JD Vance in Las Vegas, she found that the Republicans are not particularly keen on journalists, let alone foreign ones.
As part of her journalistic duties covering the upcoming US elections, RTL’s Annick Goerens has been attending both Democrat and Republican events.
Talking to us here at RTL on her experiences covering the elections so far, Annick shared that she has encountered vastly contrasting experiences when reporting on events hosted by the two main parties, with the Republicans being disdainful towards journalists.
Few days after covering Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ rally in Las Vegas, Annick received the news that JD Vance will be hosting a rally in the Sin City as well. Despite promptly requesting press credentials, her application was denied within three hours without any specific reason provided.
No press credentials, no fear?
Annick then requested a ‘general admission’ pass to the event which anyone is allowed to do. This time Annick’s request came through. On Saturday morning at 7am, Annick made her way to the Whitney Recreation Centre where there were a row of stands selling t-shirts, flags, fridge magnets, cups, and plenty of other knick knacks emblazoned with Trump’s name, MAGA, and Make America Great Again. Unsure of whether she will be allowed to enter the event, Annick started interviewing a lady operating one of the stands. “Why Trump?,” Annick asked.
“Well first of all, he has already proved his presidential credentials [in 2016]the economy was doing well back then, there were less wars, and he was strongly in favour of border controls. At the time, everyone vilified him as a racist because he wanted to build a wall, he received a lot of backlash for that.”
Annick then asked whether Trump’s rhetoric about women bothers her as a woman.
“I think those are lies spread by the leftist media. He is pro-women. The media presents it as if he were against women. He recently spoke about how women are unsafe because of migrants coming into the country illegally. He was told by his people that he shouldn’t call himself a protector of women, but Trump said he doesn’t care, he will protect women, whether they like it or not.”
After her interview, Annick went through security checks without any issue. JD Vance’s rally was held in a medium-sized sports hall filled with around 500 people. Once she entered the hall, she took advantage of the time before the event to ask attendees about their first impressions.
All she had in terms of equipment was her phone as security wouldn’t allow anything else in, so there were no backpacks and no handbags. She barely finished her first interview when two men from the organisational team abruptly pulled her to the side.
Annick recounted, “They were alerted by a man who was apparently bothered by the questions I was asking. A third person placed themselves behind me so I was fully encircled. They asked me who I was, and it took them a mere minute to find out that I had requested press credentials which were rejected.”
‘She’s not welcome here’
Annick continued, “They then very loudly started to say ‘she’s not welcome here’ and I had to leave the premises immediately because according to them, I snuck into the event illegally. As we found ourselves in a tiny hall, the word spread quickly and many Trump-supporters started yelling ‘Democrat bitch,’ ‘spy,’ and ‘fake news media.'”
At this point, Annick started to feel unsafe. She recalled: “I was alone and people were treating me horribly, shouting ugly insults, and throwing weird stuff at my head. One of the organisers just kept pushing me towards the exit and shouted in agreement with the crowd saying ‘I’m not welcome here.’ Inside the hall, the organisers were people working as volunteers for Trump. Outside, however, there were official police officers, with whom I felt safer. But one of the volunteers from Trump’s team almost followed me all the way to my car while continuing to spout some not-so-nice words at me.”
Communication does not get you far
Annick explained that she tried to communicate with Trump’s team to clarify that she meant no harm and that she was just trying to do her job as a journalist to understand what made people vote for Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, in an objective manner. This got her nowhere.
Trust in media appears to be gone and journalists have their work cut out for themselves.
And now from Phoenix, Arizona, Annick is on her way back to good ol’ Luxembourg.
Report in Luxembourgish
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