President Biden has not spent a lot of time talking to the press. Jen Psaki meets with the White House press frequently and often has a problem communicating the policies of the Biden administration. Transparency is not the first item on the agenda of the Biden administration.

Yesterday The U.K. Mail reported the following:

The White House will start charging members of the press $170 to have a COVID-19 test before they can enter the grounds, according to a report, in a move that could financially cripple news organizations and limit coverage of the Biden administration altogether. 

The White House press office will from Monday bill journalists for their own coronavirus tests, which are mandatory for anyone entering the White House complex. 

Under the Trump administration, COVID-19 testing for the media was only available to members of the press pool who were coming into close contact with Donald Trump or to people exposed to a positive case via a White House event.

These tests were paid for by the White House however testing was not available to journalists attending press conferences in the briefing room or entering the grounds for other White House events.   

Several members of the media were exposed to the virus during Trump’s tenure, including at least three journalists who tested positive in the wake of the Rose Garden ‘superspreader’ event after which then-president Trump was admitted to hospital with the virus. 

As soon as Joe Biden took office in January, his administration introduced mandatory COVID-19 rapid testing for all journalists each morning before they can enter the White House campus, as well as a requirement to wear surgical face masks and practice social distancing.  

The White House has been footing the bill for the testing since it was made mandatory in January but it now plans to charge the media $170 per test starting March 1, according to the Washington Post.

It has also agreed to accept proof of a negative test taken outside the grounds following backlash over the initial plan to only permit on-site testing. 

However it is not clear what outside tests will be permitted with some private tests also costing up to around $200 a go. 

The article notes that no other federal agency is charging journalists for testing. I wonder if even the liberal journalists are wishing for a return to the Trump administration where at least they generally had access to the Press Briefing Room without paying $170.