The Trump administration announced Tuesday that the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) will no longer oversee which media outlets are granted special access to the briefing room and other White House areas. Instead, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed that the White House press team would now take control of determining the rotations and which outlets will be granted access, ending decades of WHCA dominance. Leavitt emphasized that prominent legacy media outlets with a long history in the WHCA would continue to be part of the briefings, and that the five major television networks would still be responsible for broadcasting White House events.
“I am proud to announce that we are going to give the power back to the people who read your papers, who watch your television shows, and who listen to your radio stations. Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team. Legacy outlets who have participated in the press pool for decades will still be allowed to join, fear not. But we will also be offering the privilege to well-deserving outlets who have never been allowed to share in this awesome responsibility,” Leavitt told reporters during Tuesday’s briefing.
This announcement came shortly after The Associated Press filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for denying the outlet access to the briefing room, Air Force One, and other exclusive spaces. A federal judge ruled in favor of the White House on Monday.
Leavitt argued that the WHCA had become an exclusive group of “D.C. journalists” who no longer accurately represented the broader media landscape or how the American public consumes news. “A select group of D.C.-based journalists should no longer have a monopoly over the privilege of press access at the White House. All journalists, outlets, and voices deserve a seat at this highly coveted table,” she said.
WHCA president Eugene Daniels expressed strong opposition to the White House’s decision, stating that it “tears at the independence of a free press in the United States.” He argued, “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 also mentioned that the WHCA was not given advance notice about the change.
Earlier, the Trump administration introduced a “new media seat” in the briefing room to give more diverse outlets access. On Tuesday, digital outlet Semafor was represented at the briefing.
The White House had previously restricted The Associated Press from accessing the Oval Office and Air Force One after the outlet refused to rename the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America.” White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich wrote on X, “The Associated Press continues to ignore the lawful geographic name change of the Gulf of America. This decision is not just divisive, but it also exposes the Associated Press’ commitment to misinformation. While their right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected by the First Amendment, it does not ensure their privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One.”
“Going forward, that space will now be opened up to the many thousands of reporters who have been barred from covering these intimate areas of the administration,” Budowich added. “Associated Press journalists and photographers will retain their credentials to the White House complex.”
In response to being blocked from a White House event, AP senior vice president and executive editor Julie Pace sent a letter to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. “The actions taken by this White House were plainly intended to punish the AP for the content of its speech,” Pace wrote, according to an AP report. “It is among the most basic tenets of the First Amendment that the government cannot retaliate against the public or the press for what they say.”
{Matzav.com}