The White House has announced it will control which news organisations and reporters are allowed into the press pool covering President Donald Trump.
It follows a lawsuit from the Associated Press (the AP) over its access to the pool.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “A select group of D.C-based journalists should no longer have a monopoly over the privilege of press access at the White House.”
Press pool
The press pool is a group of reporters, camera-people and photographers who report on the President from the White House and on offical trips.
The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), an independent group, chooses which reporters join the pool on a rotating basis.
Reporters ‘pool’ their resources, such as direct quotes from the President and footage of press conferences.
AP lawsuit
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
In February, the White House restricted the AP’s access to the press pool for referring to the body of water by its original name.
In response, the AP sued White House officials, including Leavitt.
In their lawsuit, the AP said: “The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government.”
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Leavitt announced last week the WHCA would no longer select reporters for the press pool.
Instead, the Trump administration will choose which journalists have access.
Leavitt said that the WHCA “has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the president... in these most intimate spaces.”
“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”.
Response
In a statement, the WHCA said: “This move tears at the independence of a free press... 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“.
In a joint statement, the AP, Reuters, and Bloomberg said it “is essential in a democracy for the public to have access to news about their government from an independent, free press.”
Australia
Australia’s equivalent to the U.S. press pool is the federal Parliamentary Press Gallery.
It includes journalists, photographers, and camera operators, who work from Parliament House in Canberra.
Members of an elected committee of journalists decide on applications to the Gallery.
According to the Press Gallery’s website, “the media is an essential part of democracy and something we should not take for granted.”
