“It’s a New York Sunday tradition,” read a sign held by Norman Cohen, a freelance TV producer, “Coffee, Bagels,<br />and a FREE PRESS.” The protest, which was led by Get Organized BK, was in response to President Trump’s decision on Friday to bar several news organizations from a White House briefing, including The Times.<br />On Sunday morning, the time when many engage in the weekend ritual of reading the news over coffee, a large<br />crowd converged outside ’s Manhattan headquarters on Eighth Avenue to defend the country’s press.<br />By blocking certain reporters from attending Friday’s open briefing, the president’s press secretary, Sean M. Spicer, “undermines one of the few institutions<br />that has as its role asking tough, independent-minded questions of the president,” Mr. Baquet said.<br />Fight back!” The group boomed back, responding with the mantra as Mr. Zorek shouted again,<br />listing names of news organizations from BuzzFeed to the Public Broadcasting Service.<br />Protesters walked from The Times to the offices of Fox News<br />and The Wall Street Journal, and then to NBC’s headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza before returning to The Times building.<br />“When is under attack, what do we do?” Michael Zorek, a stay-at-home father from the Upper West Side of Manhattan screamed to the crowd.
