White House will determine which news agencies will report on Trump in the future
Unlike before, the US government wants to decide for itself which media will have access to certain events and trips of the US President.
The US government announced on Tuesday that its officials would in future "determine" which news agencies would be allowed to regularly report on Donald Trump from close quarters. The approach is a sharp break with a tradition dating back around a century, in which the non-governmental White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) decided on the composition of the so-called press pool.
"The White House press team will determine in this administration who gets to enjoy the very privileged and restricted access in spaces like Air Force One and the Oval Office," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a daily briefing. Elsewhere, she added: "A select group of Washington DC journalists should no longer have a monopoly on press access in the White House."
According to Leavitt, some streaming services will be included in addition to traditional broadcasters. She described the change as a modernization of the press pool and said the move would "give back access to the American people" who elected Trump. Media experts told the Associated Press (AP) that the move raises troubling questions about the First Amendment because the president now chooses who reports on him.
The White House's announcement was preceded by a legal dispute between the US government and the largest US news agency, AP, after a reporter from the media was denied access to the White House. The AP had refused to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America," as requested by the White House. On Monday, a judge provisionally confirmed the AP's exclusion.
Leavitt said the White House would toughen up its decision to exclude the AP from many presidential events. "It's high time that White House press relations reflect the media habits of the American people in 2025, not 1925," Leavitt continued.
WHCA chief: “Leaders are not allowed to select their own press corps”WHCA President Eugene Daniels, reacting to the decision on Tuesday, said the measure undermines "the independence of the free press in the United States." Daniels added: "In a free country, leaders should not be able to select their own press corps."
The WHCA is an independent journalists' association. For decades, it has selected which journalists are part of the press pool that covers the president up close during trips and other events. The AFP news agency is part of the WHCA and the pool.
Berliner-zeitung
