CBS’s Stephen Colbert freaked out on Wednesday’s edition of The Late Show over changes the White House has made to the press pool, claiming, “Trump and his team have a taste of the blood of journalists.” Colbert was so distraught that CNN’s Pamela Brown had to urge patience a bit later in the show as she suggested a wait-and-see approach to the changes.
Against the backdrop of the Associated Press being banned from the Oval Office and Air Force One over the Gulf of America, Colbert declared, “Now that Trump and his team have a taste of the blood of journalists, they're ready to go further. You see, since the 1950s, the White House Correspondents Association has decided who is in the White House press pool. But now, the White House has seized control and will decide which outlets cover events with the president, so they'll be able to include more Trump-friendly outlets and conservative influencers on social media.”
Colbert imagined a scenario where reporters from buffoonish outlets be tasked with asking questions about wonky subjects, “Okay, welcome. I'll now take questions on the United States's grain exports to Malaysia. Yes, the gentleman from Fartcoin.biz. I'll come to you next, Kanye. Let's go.”
To justify his fears, Colbert cited Fox News’s Jacqui Heinrich, "The White House reporters, of course, are freaking out, with one saying, "This move does not give the power back to the people. It gives the power to the White House.’ That quote from the correspondent from far-left woke-stream media, Fox News. Correspondent added, ‘But I'm sure once we put the finishing touches on this monster we helped stitch together out of body parts and rage, he'll be our friend again.’"
Colbert continued, “Another veteran White House correspondent who requested anonymity told Politico, ‘If we don't figure out a way, we're cooked.’ Buddy, you were all cooked the minute you didn't stand up for the AP. I mean, the meat is falling off the bone, and he’s covering you with little lemon slices all over your body and, obviously, some pumpable cheese.”
Later in the show, Colbert asked Brown, herself a White House reporter during Trump 1.0, “Donald Trump said “we're going to be calling the shots,” quote, unquote. What does that mean to you in terms of a free press?”
Brown was not a fan but still hedged, “So, it's a break from precedent, right? And it could be very concerning. It is another example, in my view, of the White House trying to take control of the coverage and controlling who gets to ask the president questions. That said, I don't think we know what the impact will be and it's something to watch for.”
She then gave an explanation of what the pool is:
Because this is sort of inside baseball, but the pool, because that's a weird word, right, the pool means, like today, with the cabinet meeting, they had representatives from different types of media like print, wire, broadcast, because it's such a small room, who then, you know, have the footage and they take notes and they put it out to the world. So, what the White House is saying, instead of the Correspondence Association, which is a group of journalists elected by their peers who work for the American people, not the White House, choosing to make sure there’s fair and equal access. The White House is saying we want to choose which representatives are in there.”
Even with the changes, the five broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox) will stay in rotation. What has changed is that the print media list has expanded.
Brown continued, “So, of course, it's something I'm looking at closely. If they were choosing pro-Trump outlets, that could be concerning, but I think it's too premature to know what the effect is going to be. Today was the first example of it. They chose who was in there. He still got some tough questions. He got friendly questions, but he got tough questions.
Trump will not create a situation where he gets only softballs if for no other reason than because he loves the combative nature of the exchanges with legacy media reporters.
Here is a transcript for the February 26 show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2/26/2025
11:42 PM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: Now that Trump and his team have a taste of the blood of journalists, they're ready to go further. You see, since the 1950s, the White House Correspondents Association has decided who is in the White House press pool. But now, the White House has seized control and will decide which outlets cover events with the president, so they'll be able to include more Trump-friendly outlets and conservative influencers on social media. "Okay, welcome. I'll now take questions on the United States's grain exports to Malaysia. Yes, the gentleman from Fartcoin.biz. I'll come to you next, Kanye. Let's go.”
The White House reporters, of course, are freaking out, with one saying, "This move does not give the power back to the people. It gives the power to the White House." That quote from the correspondent from far-left woke-stream media, Fox News. Correspondent added, "But I'm sure once we put the finishing touches on this monster we helped stitch together out of body parts and rage, he'll be our friend again." Another veteran White House correspondent who requested anonymity told Politico, "If we don't figure out a way, we're cooked."
Buddy, you were all cooked the minute you didn't stand up for the AP. I mean, the meat is falling off the bone, and he’s covering you with little lemon slices all over your body and, obviously, some pumpable cheese.
…
12:30 AM ET
COLBERT: Donald Trump said “we're going to be calling the shots,” quote, unquote. What does that mean to you in terms of a free press?
PAMELA BROWN: So, it's a break from precedent, right? And it could be very concerning. It is another example, in my view, of the White House trying to take control of the coverage and controlling who gets to ask the president questions. That said, I don't think we know what the impact will be and it's something to watch for.
And just for you all, because this is sort of inside baseball, but the pool, because that's a weird word, right, the pool means, like today, with the cabinet meeting, they had representatives from different types of media like print, wire, broadcast, because it's such a small room, who then, you know, have the footage and they take notes and they put it out to the world.
So, what the White House is saying, instead of the Correspondence Association, which is a group of journalists elected by their peers who work for the American people, not the White House, choosing to make sure there’s fair and equal access. The White House is saying we want to choose which representatives are in there.
So, of course, it's something I'm looking at closely. If they were choosing pro-Trump outlets, that could be concerning, but I think it's too premature to know what the effect is going to be. Today was the first example of it. They chose who was in there. He still got some tough questions. He got friendly questions, but he got tough questions.