White House officials “will determine” which news outlets will have regular close-up access to President Donald Trump, wresting control away from the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), which has determined the journalists who have access to the President and White House for over a century.
As reported by The Associated Press and BBC, the surprising and unconventional move comes in the wake of a legal battle between AP and the White House.
The AP filed a lawsuit against Taylor Budowich (White House Deputy Chief of Staff), Karoline Leavitt (White House Press Secretary), and Susan Whiles (White House Chief of Staff), alleging that the White House’s move to ban the AP from White House events violates two United States Constitutional Amendments, the First and Fifth.
Trump-appointed federal judge Trevor N. McFadden refused to order the White House to immediately restore the AP’s access in a controversial ruling this week, although noted that U.S. law was not on the White House’s side concerning it barring the AP over its continued use of “Gulf of Mexico,” rather than using “Gulf of America,” as President Trump decreed in an Executive Order in his first days back in office.
Against this backdrop of a feud between the White House and the AP, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that moving control away from the WCHA would give “access back to the American people.”
“The White House press team, in this administration, will determine who gets to enjoy the very privileged and limited access in spaces such as Air Force One and the Oval Office,” Leavitt said Tuesday.
Free speech advocates have sounded alarm bells.
“This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States. 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 corps,” WCHA president Eugene Daniels said.
“To be clear, the White House did not give the WHCA board a heads up or have any discussions about today’s announcements. But the WHCA will never stop advocating for comprehensive access, full transparency and the right of the American public to read, listen to and watch reports from the White House, delivered without fear or favor,” Daniels concludes.
Image credits: Featured image licensed via Depositphotos.
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