PARIS, Sept 11, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - More than 100 international media groups 
and industry bodies urged Washington on Thursday not to slash the time 
foreign journalists can stay in the United States, saying the planned change 
would hurt its image abroad.

President Donald Trump's plan would "reduce the quantity and quality of 
coverage coming from the US" and "damage, not enhance, America's global 
standing", AFP news agency and 117 other signatories to a joint statement 
wrote.

Backers of the appeal ranged from international news agencies like AFP and 
Reuters, to public broadcasters including Britain's BBC, Germany's ARD and 
Australia's ABC, national newspapers like Canada's Globe and Mail or the 
Irish Times and press freedom groups including Reporters Without Borders and 
the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The Trump administration last month trailed plans to slash journalists' stays 
to a renewable 240-day period -- or just 90 days for Chinese media workers -- 
alongside a four-year limit on student visas.

Current rules allow journalists to stay in the US for up to five years, 
meaning they "gain the deep knowledge, trusted networks and contextual 
immersion needed to explain America to global audiences", the signatories 
said.

"This serves a critical US interest: ensuring that America's policies, 
culture, and leadership are clearly and accurately communicated to 
international audiences in their own languages," they added.

The visa proposals are part of a wider crackdown on foreigners in the US.

Last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested hundreds 
of South Korean workers who were helping set up a Hyundai factory in Georgia, 
shocking the US ally.

Slashing the length of journalists' stays "risks leaving the world less 
informed about American news and current affairs", the news organisations 
said Thursday.

"Rival nations and powerful adversaries will waste no time in filling the 
resulting vacuum with narratives about the US that serve their own interests 
before the truth," they added.

Trump popularised the term "fake news" from around the time of his 2017 
inauguration.

And just last month the White House lashed out at what it called a "foreign 
influence operation" by German-owned outlet Politico, which published an 
article criticising Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.