Trump Admin to select news outlets allowed in key White House events

According to White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, as of Feb. 25 all reporters belonging to media outlets that wish to report within the limited presidential reporting pool will be handpicked by the Trump Administration to allow “new media” outlets to have access to key White House events and the press briefing room.

The presidential reporting pool is a 13-person press pool that rotates daily and is chosen by the 100-year-old White House Correspondents Agency (WHCA). The journalists within the pool report on the day-to-day activities of the sitting president and their administration. This pool is mainly made up of journalists from traditional media outlets such as Reuters, CNN, Fox, ABC News and The New York Times, but The Associated Press (AP) has recently been removed.

The AP, a global news outlet, has been a part of this list for over a century, but on Feb. 11 the AP was blocked twice from entering the White House to report on President Trump and his administration, but it does not stop there. The AP was blocked a third time during a media conference featuring President Trump. Finally, the AP was officially barred from the White House. 

This is because the AP would not change their style guidelines to replace the Gulf of Mexico with the Gulf of America per President Trump’s executive order. With the AP being a global outlet, their style guidelines are recognized across the world and since the United States is the only country to rename the body of water, the guideline change would not accurately represent every other country. To try to  rectify the problem, the AP would have listed the Gulf of America alongside the Gulf of Mexico, but that did not please the administration. 

Along with being barred by the Trump Administration, the AP’s wire service has since been removed from the presidential reporting pool until they officially change their style guidelines.

As the AP is an outlet for independent journalism, their barment was highly concerning nationally. Most are calling it unconstitutional and many are worried that the barment of the AP and now, the picky selections over who can and cannot report over the Trump Administration first hand, is a slippery slope in the wrong direction. But the Trump Administration does not look at the decision through that lens, instead, they find these actions to be empowering.

Leavitt stated, “By deciding which outlets make up the limited press pool on a day-to-day basis, the White House will be restoring power back to the American people.”

But how does this restore power back to the American people? Millions of Americans turn to these major news outlets that are currently a part of the press pool for reliable news information. If that information is taken away, or if the reliability goes away, no one is going to know who to listen to for breaking news. A country can not have news sources that are only seen as credible.

The Trump Administration is also making an unconstitutional move with presumably taking over the press pool. For instance, if President Trump attempts to sign an executive order to overhaul the pool, then it may be seen as a direct infringement on the First Amendment. Congress cannot pass laws that restrict the freedom of the press and no one, not even the president, is above this rule.

Eugene Daniels, president of the WHCA, agrees that “this move tears at the independence of the free press in the United States.” Daniels also states, “It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not choose their own press corps.”

As of now, nothing is written in stone. Other than Leavitt’s statements on the matter, the White House has not released any further information on the issue, but nonetheless, the comment is a concern for the American people and the integrity of the constitution that the president is supposed to uphold.