The White House announced Tuesday it will decide which news outlets cover the president as part of the “pool” allowed into news events in locations such as the Oval Office or trips on Air Force One that cannot accommodate the full press corps, taking that long-held power from the independent White House Correspondents’ Association.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt unveiled the change during the daily press briefing, saying the WHCA “should no longer have a monopoly” on organizing the press pools that cover the president and determining their daily makeup. The WHCA is composed of news outlets that cover the White House daily, including The Washington Times.
“For decades a group of DC-based journalists, the White House Correspondents’ Association, has long dedicated which journalists get to ask questions of the President of the United States in these intimate settings. Not anymore,” Ms. Leavitt said.
Ms. Leavitt said the White House press team will now decide which outlets will participate in the daily press pool. Legacy outlets that participated in the pool for decades will still be included, but now “well-deserving outlets who have never been allowed to share in this awesome responsibility” will be included, she said.
“All journalists, outlets and voices deserve a seat at this highly coveted table,” Ms. Leavitt said.
WHCA President Eugene Daniels said having the White House choose which reporters can have access to the president strikes at the heart of the First Amendment.
“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,” he said.
Because White House venues such as the Oval Office or the Cabinet room cannot accommodate the entire press corps, the “pool” system has been used for decades, allowing a handful of journalists to cover a presidential event and then share their reports with the rest of the press corps. Similarly, travel on Air Force One is limited to roughly a dozen journalists whose outlets participate on a rotating basis.
Mr. Daniels said the WHCA board was not given a heads-up about the decision nor had any discussions with the Trump administration about the change. He vowed that the WHCA will “never stop advocating” for comprehensive access and full transparency.
The decision to take control of the press pool comes one day after the Trump administration won a temporary court ruling allowing it to continue barring the Associated Press from pooled events. Mr. Trump personally blocked the outlet over its decision to refuse to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.