Donald Trump raises the stakes in his war on the press

Donald Trump appears to have raised the stakes in his war with the press during his presidential campaign.

His team have previously denied reporting credentials to several news organisations attempting to attend his rallies. So journalists, like the rest of the public, were forced to buy tickets to obtain entry.

But, despite buying a ticket, the Washington Post’s correspondent, Jose DelReal, was refused entry to a Milwaukee event on Wednesday night featuring Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence.

He was stopped by an official who told him he couldn’t enter the building with his laptop and cellphone. When he protested, a private security guard summoned the police and DelReal was patted down by two sheriff’s deputies.

According to a Huffington Post report on the matter, Donald Trump’s restrictions on the press reach chilling new low, Trump placed the Post on his campaign’s media blacklist last month because he thought one of its headlines was unfair.

Nearly a dozen news outlets, including Politico, BuzzFeed, the Daily Beast, Univision and the Huffington Post, are also on that list.

Journalists are also upset about their movements being restricted at Trump campaign events, decisions which have even been enforced by the Secret Service.

Pence’s press secretary, Marc Lotter, later told the Post that campaign volunteers had misinterpreted the campaign’s policy and that “our events are open to everyone.”

But a Politco reporter who attended a rally with a general admission ticket last month was ordered out of the event while working on a laptop.

Steven Ginsberg, the Post’s senior editor for politics, told the HuffPost: “We will continue to cover their campaign in the same aggressive, comprehensive and unflinching way we have for the past 18 months, no matter what form their ban takes on any given day.”