White House seizes control of press pool, will decide which outlets cover events with president

[Pelican Press 0]

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White House seizes control of press pool, will decide which outlets cover events with president

The White House announced on Tuesday that the administration — not an independent group of journalists — will determine which outlets have access to the president as part of a pool allowed into the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One and into other meetings and events that cannot accommodate the full press corps.

The decision comes a day after the administration won a temporary ruling allowing it to bar the Associated Press from pooled events, in retaliation for the news wire’s decision to resist President Donald Trump’s demand that it rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the newest changes in the briefing room on Tuesday, asserting that the White House Correspondents’ Association “should no longer have a monopoly” on organizing press pools and that the White House would determine the makeup of the pool on a day-to-day basis.

“All journalists, outlets and voices deserve a seat at this highly coveted table,” Leavitt said.

WHCA, a group of journalists on the beat elected by their peers, have long overseen the rotations of print, radio and television correspondents that make up the pool, a 13-member group of journalists allowed access to the president in smaller settings.

Leavitt said that the White House plans to continue those print, radio and TV pool rotations but would add representatives of additional outlets “that have long been denied” to all of them. Additionally, she said they plan to add more outlets and reporters to the pool “who are well suited to cover the news of the day.”

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