Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Tuesday that the White House would now determine which reporters make up the press ‘pool’ – the group of journalists allowed into tight spaces like the Oval Office and Air Force One.
Pool assignments had been in the hands of a democratically elected group of journalists, the White House Correspondents’ Association, to keep the White House from gatekeeping access.
President Donald Trump’s White House has already ousted the Associated Press from the pool over the wire service’s refusal to change Gulf of Mexico to ‘Gulf of America’ in the AP’s influential style guide.
Leavitt said during Tuesday’s briefing that the new move would ‘give even greater access to the American people.’
‘We want more outlets and new outlets to have a chance ot take part in the press pool, to cover the administration’s unprecedented achievements up close, front-and-center,’ she said.
She continued: ‘As you all know for decades, a group of D.C.-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 anymore,’ the 27-year-old press secretary said.
‘I am proud to announce that we are going to give the power bak to the people who read your papers, who watch your television shows and who listen to your radio stations,’ Leavitt said. ‘Moving forward the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team.’
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Tuesday that the White House would now determine which reporters make up the press ‘pool’ – the group of journalists allowed into tight spaces like the Oval Office and Air Force One
