The White House is revoking the press corps' authority to select the daily rotation of reporters assigned to follow the president, escalating President Donald Trump’s war with the journalists covering his administration.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during Tuesday’s press briefing that the White House press team would now dictate who makes up the floating press “pool” of reporters who cover the president.
“We want more outlets and new outlets to have a chance to take part in the press pool to cover this administration’s unprecedented achievements up close, front and center,” Leavitt said. “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.”
The announcement came a day after a federal judge declined to halt Trump’s ban of the Associated Press from press events over its decision to use the “Gulf of Mexico” name. Though the judge appeared sympathetic to the news wire’s claims, the White House has since tried to claim victory for the early decision ahead of a March 20 court date.
White House Correspondents Association President Eugene Daniels said in a statement that the Trump administration’s decision “tears at the independence of a free press in the United States” and that the White House gave the organization no notice before Tuesday’s announcement.
“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 rotation are operated, so as to ensure consistent professional standards and fairness in access on behalf of all readers, viewers and listeners," Daniels said.
“The WHCA will never stop advocating for comprehensive access, full transparency and the right of the American public to read, listen to and watch reports from the White House, delivered without fear or favor,” he added.
Peter Baker, the New York Times' chief White House correspondent, wrote on X that the new policy “reminds me of how the Kremlin took over its own press pool and made sure that only compliant journalists were given access.”
“The message is clear,“ he wrote. ”Given that the White House has already kicked one news organization out of the pool because of coverage it does not like, it is making certain everyone else knows that the rest of us can be barred too if the president does not like our questions or stories.”
Leavitt said the White House would continue the traditional rotation of the five TV networks part of the pool—NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox News, and CNN—but would add “additional streaming services which reach different audiences than traditional cable and broadcast.” The print and radio pool groups will also include outlets Leavitt says were “denied the privilege to partake in this experience.”
“This is the ever changing landscape of the media in the United States today,” Leavitt said.
The White House has already waged war on media outlets Trump, Elon Musk, and their allies have deemed enemies during its first month in power.
The White House ordered the cancellation of government subscriptions to most media media outlets earlier this month after right-wing allies condemned payments for Politico‘s subscription-based product. Trump also ordered his officials to ban the AP from a series of press engagements after the outlet declined to use his preferred “Gulf of America” name, which the AP has called a First Amendment violation.
