Trump administration says it will take control of White House press pool

In a move that critics have described as an assault on press freedom, the White House has announced it will decide which journalists and media organizations can take part in press conferences covering President Donald Trump’s administration.

The pool system – which prioritises select television, radio, wire, print and photojournalists for coverage of smaller events – has been dominated for decades by journalists from outlets such as CNN, Reuters, ABC News, Fox News and The New York Times.

Access will continue to those outlets, according to a spokeswoman for the Trump administration, Karoline Leavitt, who spoke on Tuesday. She claimed that the administration will now have access to other outlets because it has seized control of the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA), which had previously overseen the pool’s rotation.

“For decades, a group of DC-based journalists, 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 any more”, Leavitt said at a news briefing.

“Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team”, Leavitt said, adding that it will add streaming services to the pool’s rotation.

Eugene Daniels, president of the WHCA, claimed the Trump administration had not given the organization any notice prior to the move, which he described as “tears at the independence of a free press in the United States.”

It recommends that the president’s journalists be chosen by the government. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps”, Daniels said in a statement.

The WHCA will continue to support comprehensive access, full transparency, and the right of the American public to read, listen to, and watch White House reports without fear or favor, he continued.

When Trump was later asked about his decision at a gathering of reporters in the Oval Office, he responded, “We’re going to be now calling the shots.”

Trump also addressed The Associated Press (AP) at the same time in response to a recent controversy over the organization’s decision to not use the name “Gulf of America,” which the president has given the Gulf of Mexico.

The Trump administration accused the news agency of spreading “lies” over its decision to use “Gulf of America” exclusively and suspended AP reporters from White House events for several days straight.

“AP has been terrible. I think they’re radical left. I think they’re third-rate reporters”, Trump said on Tuesday.

“I know the person, that specific young lady that works on the account is terrible. She’s a radical left lunatic, as far as I’m concerned”, he added.

The AP’s access to presidential events, including those held on Air Force One and the Oval Office, was denied on Monday by US District Judge Trevor N. McFadden, who had refused to grant the White House’s request to immediately grant the organization’s request to cancel the Oval Office’s request for a response.

Before making a decision, McFadden claimed that the issue needed to be looked into more deeply.