WASHINGTON — The White House announced on Tuesday that the Trump administration will decide which outlets have access to cover President Donald Trump as part of a pool allowed into the Oval Office, Air Force One and into other events — a break from major tradition.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the changes, saying the White House Correspondents’ Association “should no longer have a monopoly” on deciding the press pools.
“The White House press team, in this administration, will determine who gets to enjoy the very privileged and limited access in spaces such as Air Force One and the Oval Office,” Leavitt said. “A select group of D.C.-based journalists should no longer have a monopoly of press access at the White House.”
WHCA have overseen the rotations of print, radio and television correspondents that make up the pool, a 13-member group of journalists allowed access to the president in smaller settings.
A White House official added that traditional newswire services — AP, Bloomberg and Reuters — would no longer have a permanent spot in every pool.
“This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States,” said Eugene Daniels, the president of WHCA’s board and a POLITICO correspondent. “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.”
Daniels said that the WHCA did not get a warning about Leavitt’s announcement.
Peter Baker, the New York Times’ White House bureau chief, wrote that the new system of the administration determining the pool every day “amounts to a signal to news outlets to follow the White House line or risk being kicked out as well.”
The news comes just one day after a judge denying the AP’s emergency motion to restore its access to White House events. The White House then released a statement, viewing that as a win.
