M20 Global Coalition Alarmed at US Decision to Bar Some Reporters from G20 Finance Meeting

New Delhi: The global M20 coalition has issued a statement to G20 leaders condemning the decision by the United States to bar some journalists from covering the Group of 20 finance meeting in North Carolina.

According to The New York Times, the US Treasury Department disallowed individual reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News and Asheville Watchdog from covering the gathering of the world’s most powerful countries in the US.

In a September 3 letter to G20 leaders, the M20 coalition said. “This inexplicable exclusion sends a chilling message to news organisations and raises legitimate questions about their ability to cover the G20 Miami summit in December.”

Hosted by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the gathering of finance ministers and central bank governors took place from August 29 to September 1, 2026.

Formally launched as a global coalition in South Africa in 2025 following initial meetings in India (2023) and Brazil (2024), the M20 aims to bring together media organisations, civil society and partners to advance information integrity, free expression, media freedom, a sustainable public interest media ecosystem and the role of journalism as a public good within the context of the G20.

The full M20 statement to G20 leaders is as follows.

September 3, 2026

To G20 Leaders,

We are a coalition of press freedom advocates, civil society organizations, and academic leaders. We are also members of the Media 20, an independent initiative working to ensure that the Group of 20 supports a free, independent and sustainable media ecosystem. With the 2026 G20 Leaders’ Summit approaching in Miami, we are calling on all G20 members to ensure the media accreditation process for all summits and meetings is transparent, impartial, and accommodates the maximum number of media outlets possible. Further, the G20 should clearly affirm that journalists and news organizations will be able to freely cover deliberations by representatives of the world’s largest economies, whose decisions have broad ramifications around the world.

We are particularly alarmed that the U.S. Treasury Department blocked several journalists from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, and the Asheville Watchdog from covering the finance ministers’ meeting in North Carolina on August 31 and September 1, 2026. U.S. President Donald Trump, head of this year’s summit, has repeatedly attacked and filed lawsuits against two of the aforementioned news outlets, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, suggesting that their exclusion may have been retaliatory or politically motivated.

While U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the decision to bar the journalists from the meeting had nothing to do with “point of view,” the department has yet to offer an explanation as to why certain reporters were not granted the necessary credentials alongside other news colleagues. This inexplicable exclusion sends a chilling message to news organizations and raises legitimate questions about their ability to cover the G20 Miami summit in December.

The G20 and its annual summit serve as a global, agenda-setting discussion on economic growth and stability, international trade, and fiscal policy. Journalists play a crucial role in informing the public on these issues and holding leaders to account.

No single country or official should have the authority to limit or hand-pick which journalists or news organizations may cover the event. Press access is not a privilege to be granted to favored journalists. It is essential to the public’s right to know.

We urge you to implement a fair and transparent media accreditation process that upholds the right to a free and independent press and to maintain an open and safe reporting environment at the summit.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

• Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
• Committee to Protect Journalists
• Free Press
• Freedom of the Press Foundation
• Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2021 Nobel laureate (economics)
• Dr. Anya Schiffrin
• Momentum – Journalism and Tech Task Force
• The Center for News, Technology and Innovation
• Moxii Africa
• Siddharth Varadarajan, Founding Editor, The Wire
• International Press Institute
• Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD)
• Churchill Otieno, The African Editors Forum (TAEF)
• Eastern Africa Editors Society (EAES)
• NMT Media Foundation
• South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef)
• Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)
• African Women in Media
• Centre for Information Integrity in Africa (CINIA)
• Press Council of South Africa (PCSA)

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