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Obama Enacts Another Strict Media Ban Before New Zealand Trip

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Joe Simonson Media Reporter
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Former President Barack Obama will forbid all members of the press and media from reporting on his event in New Zealand this week.

The ban will also include interviews and those allowed access to the event will be forbidden from posting about it on social media.

For his time, Obama is reportedly charging $400,000.

Obama plans on meeting with the prime minister of New Zealand during the trip. The press won’t be allowed to ask questions. There will be a “moderated conversation” with the US-NZ Council, although the media is prohibited from covering it.

WATCH FROM MSNBC:

Organizers of the event confirmed that the media ban seems to be a standard policy for the former president.

“Whenever President Obama undertakes private engagements, one of the conditions is that they’re closed to public reporting,” an individual from Air New Zealand and the NZ Council told Newshub.

Members of Obama’s posse can do nothing more but “confirm they are invited to an event with the former President if they want to, but they should decline interviews until after the event by referring any press enquiries to the Obama Foundation,” according to a representative of the former president.

The stringent media rules mirror an event earlier in the year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that banned participants and audience members from using “photography, video recording, streaming and social media posting, including on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and other platforms.”

Despite the ban, his remarks were later leaked to various media outlets.

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