Radio Marti Reporter Who Queried Reagan Will Be Assigned to New Post

A Radio Marti reporter removed from her White House assignment because she asked a question at a presidential press conference will be reassigned to another position, a spokesman said Friday.

Annette Lopez-Munoz, employed by the government station beamed to Cuba and Central America, said she heard she would be offered a job as copy editor but indicated that it was doubtful she would accept it.

“She’ll be reassigned,” a U.S. Information Agency spokesman said, denying a report she would be fired.

White House spokesman Larry Speakes said, “I don’t think the President has a view” on the subject, adding “We don’t put any restrictions on anyone asking questions.”

But Speakes said the USIA’s Voice of America global radio network, of which Radio Marti is an adjunct, prohibits its reporters from asking questions at presidential press conferences.

Lopez-Munoz challenged the unwritten rule and was allowed by the White House Correspondents Assn. to ask a question of Reagan during the news conference Wednesday night.