Trump Administration Seizes Control of White House Press Pool
The Trump administration has announced that it will now determine which journalists and media organizations are granted access to the White House press pool, effectively wresting control from the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), Al Jazeera reports.
The move has been decried by media advocates as an attack on press freedom.
Traditionally, the WHCA coordinated the rotation of the press pool, which prioritizes select television, radio, wire, print, and photojournalists from established outlets like CNN, Reuters, ABC News, Fox News, and The New York Times for coverage of smaller White House events.
Administration spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt stated on Tuesday that while those legacy outlets will maintain access, the administration intends to broaden access to other outlets and dictate the pool’s composition.
“For decades, a group of DC-based journalists, the White House Correspondents’ Association, has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the president of the United States in these most intimate spaces. Not any more,” Leavitt said at a news briefing. “Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team,” she added, noting that the administration also plans to include streaming services in the rotation.
President Trump further emphasized the shift in control during a gathering with reporters in the Oval Office later that day:
“We’re going to be now calling the shots.”
The administration’s decision has raised concerns about potential bias in media coverage and the potential exclusion of critical voices. Critics argue that allowing the White House to hand-pick journalists for the press pool undermines the independence of the press and its ability to hold the administration accountable.
The announcement comes amidst an ongoing dispute between the Trump administration and The Associated Press (AP). The President has publicly criticized the AP for its policy of not using the term “Gulf of America,” a name he has given to the Gulf of Mexico.
In mid-February, the administration temporarily barred AP reporters from White House events, accusing the news agency of spreading “lies” over its refusal to exclusively use the president’s preferred term.
“AP has been terrible. I think they’re radical left. I think they’re third-rate reporters,” Trump said on Tuesday.
On Monday, US District Judge Trevor N. McFadden declined to issue an immediate order restoring the AP’s access to presidential events, including those held in the Oval Office and on Air Force One, where Trump frequently holds question-and-answer sessions. Judge McFadden stated that the issue requires further exploration and scheduled an additional hearing for March 30. The ban on AP reporters remains in effect in the meantime.
