White House says it will control press access to Trump, not reporters
WASHINGTON − The White House said Tuesday that it would decide which news outlets have access to President Donald Trump, ripping power away from an independent association of journalists who have traditionally determined which publications are part of the press pool.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the changes at a press briefing following a judge's preliminary ruling in a free speech lawsuit filed by the Associated Press, a prominent news wire service.
The AP sued the White House after it repeatedly barred its reporters from events over a dispute involving the president's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The AP refused to update its guidance to reflect the president's chosen name for the body of water.
Leavitt said Tuesday the White House Correspondents' Association would no longer be allowed to decide which outlets are included in the White House press pool, the group of reporters who fly on Air Force One and cover the president in tight spaces such as the Oval Office.
"Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team," Leavitt announced. "Legacy media outlets who have been here for years will still participate in the pool, but new voices are going to be welcomed in as well."
The White House press pool is comprised of reporters from wire services such as the Associated Press, Reuters, and Bloomberg News, which have traditionally had permanent slots, a camera crew from the five major television networks, a radio correspondent and a rotating group of print outlets that includes Paste BN. It also includes photographers.
The correspondents' association, or WHCA, is a nonprofit organization that represents those outlets and vets potential new members of the press pool. It is comprised of a nine-member board of White House correspondents who are elected to serve by their peers.
In a statement, the organization's president, Eugene Daniels, said, "This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States. It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps."
Leavitt said the White House would add streaming services, radio hosts and other news outlets to the press pool. She did not say when the change would take effect.
The move came after the judge in the AP case, U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden, questioned the WHCA's authority over the press pool during a Monday hearing. But he said, “The White House has accepted the correspondents’ association to be the referee here, and has just discriminated against one organization. That does seem problematic.”