AFP, Paris

More than 100 international media groups and industry bodies yesterday urged Washington 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.