(The Guardian) The Trump administration announced it will take control of the White House press pool, stripping the independent White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) of its longstanding role in deciding which journalists have access to the president in intimate settings.
The move has immediately triggered an impassioned response from members of the media – including a Fox News correspondent who called it a “short-sighted decision”.
The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, made the announcement during Tuesday’s press briefing, framing the move as democratizing access to the president. “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,” Leavitt said. “Not any more. Today, I was proud to announce that we are giving the power back to the people.”
The announcement upends over 70 years of established protocol of journalists themselves – not government officials – determining the rotating reporters who travel with the president on Air Force One and cover events in the Oval Office or Roosevelt Room.
www.theguardian.com
The move has immediately triggered an impassioned response from members of the media – including a Fox News correspondent who called it a “short-sighted decision”.
The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, made the announcement during Tuesday’s press briefing, framing the move as democratizing access to the president. “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,” Leavitt said. “Not any more. Today, I was proud to announce that we are giving the power back to the people.”
The announcement upends over 70 years of established protocol of journalists themselves – not government officials – determining the rotating reporters who travel with the president on Air Force One and cover events in the Oval Office or Roosevelt Room.
Outcry as White House starts dictating which journalists can access Trump
Fox News correspondent among those to decry move that journalists say will ‘tear at independence of a free press’
www.theguardian.com
