Posted on 02/26/2025 5:14:23 AM PST by MtnClimber
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Tuesday that the White House has taken control over the make up the White House press pool, brushing aside the liberal White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), which for 111 years was responsible for deciding which outlets were allowed access to the president.
Leavitt told reporters during Tuesday’s briefing that the move would “give even greater access to the American people.”
“The White House Correspondents’ Association has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the president of the United States in these most intimate spaces. Not anymore,” Leavitt said in a press briefing. “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,” Leavitt declared. “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.”
The press secretary added that “legacy media outlets who have been here for years will still participate in the pool but new voices are going to be welcomed in as well.”
In addition to the five major television networks, other streaming services that reach different audiences will also be allowed in the briefing room, she said.
The Trump White House ousted the Associated Press from the pool last week over its refusal to change Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America in the AP’s influential style guide.
A federal judge on Monday turned down a request from AP to temporarily lift the ban and restore the new agency’s access to Trump’s events, the Oval Office and Air Force One.
US District Judge Trevor McFadden did however schedule a hearing for March 20 to hear arguments over the AP’s request for a preliminary injunction.
The WHCA’s president, Eugene Daniels, said the Trump administration’s “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,” Daniels said. “Since its founding in 1914, the WHCA has sought to ensure that the reporters, photographers, producers and technicians who actually do the work — 365 days of every year — decide amongst themselves how these rotations are operated, so as to ensure consistent professional standards and fairness in access on behalf of all readers, viewers and listeners.”
Daniels added that White House officials did not notify the WHCA board before they made today’s announcement.
Leavitt announced late last month that the Trump White House was committed to adopting “a new media landscape in 2025,” starting with several changes in the James S. Brady Briefing Room.
This White House believes strongly in the First Amendment, so it’s why our team will work diligently to restore the press passes of the 440 journalists whose passes were wrongly revoked by the previous administration.
We’re also opening up this briefing room to new media voices who produce news-related content and whose outlet is not already represented by one of the seats in this room. We welcome independent journalists, podcasters, social media influencers, and content creators to apply for credentials to cover this White House. And you can apply now on our new website, WhiteHouse.gov/NewMedia.
Starting today, this seat in the front of the room, which is usually occupied by the press secretary staff, will be called the “new media” seat. My team will review the applications and give credentials to new media applicants who meet our criteria and pass United States Secret Service requirements to enter the White House complex.
The White House has argued that media access to the president is a privilege, not “a constitutional right.”
“Asking the president of the United States questions in the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One is a privilege granted to journalists, not a legal right,” the White House said in a statement.
Lots of leftist noses bent out of shape over this.
Maybe Trump admin wants to keep MSDNC’s new offering in their line up after getting rid of Joy out of the WH briefing room.
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1894620317068263883
From the group that has controlled press access to the WH for over a century….Now there is irony….
With newspapers and broadcast media diving downward in readers or viewers, of course the other media options need to be brought in to replace the Old Guard media.
WHCA’s president, which runs a monopoly on the White House press core access, is complaining about freedom of the press while his very institution has operated in a discriminatory manner for over 100 years. Interesting.
People seem to hate monopolies - unless it’s THEIR monopoly.
The entire free press can write what they want, but a smaller number of the Old Guard Media will be there, with New Guard Media sources like podcasters coming in to ask questions, as well.
I’d love to see outfits like Newsmax, One America News, and others, as well as maybe rotating some pundits like Joe Rogan, Andrew Wilkow, and Chris Plante into the meetings on occasion.
And it would be hilarious, just to see heads explode, if an entity like CatTurd were permitted to join from time to time.
Long overdue. Should have been done during the first term when President Trump took away the Christmas party punch bowl from the Beltway media. They howled bloody murder over that. An adversarial press is one thing but a vendetta-driven press is a completely different animal and these guys are getting everything they deserve.
I would be just fine with the removal of every ossified leftist organization in DC.
This has been the rule for far too long. Let them whine.
Journalists are 90% Democrat. So if they decide which ones have access, they will slant the reporting their own way. Ask the dumbest questions, make false accusations, etc.
This needed done decades ago. The liberal media had a lock on whitehut press briefings. Not any more.
>> [WHCA president Eugene Daniels said] the Trump administration’s “move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States.”
Eugene, buddy, that MSM train left Press Independence Station a LONG time ago... and you and your ilk were driving.
Ha! That so called 'free press' has been captured by collectivists. Their propaganda is paid under the table with our money! The so called free press legacy media are nothing more than paid off Communists.
No more Press in the Oval Office...We need a better way...
GOOD.....the whca is corrupt as hell.
It was all part of the uniparty game plan for decades.. the k street whores and uniparty players have been impacted the most.. can’t control the narrative if you don’t have access.
I wonder how the k street cocktail parties are these days?
111 YEARS!!!!.................
“No more Press in the Oval Office...We need a better way”
Just ZOOM it and call it a day.
Follow that up with a weekly email blast and have the media submit questions the same way.
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