The White House has responded to a judge's ruling calling for a "level playing field" for the Associated Press by changing the playing field. The Trump administration says it will no longer reserve a slot in the White House press pool for a reporter from the AP, Reuters, or Bloomberg, ending decades of reserved newswire access, the New York Times reports. An additional slot in the pool has been added, but journalists from the newswires, which distribute content to thousands of outlets, will now have to compete with journalists from around 30 print outlets for it. In February, the administration broke with a century of tradition by taking control of the press pool from the independent White House Correspondents' Association.
The press pool follows the president wherever he goes, including on foreign trips. The White House says the pool will now consist of "one print journalist to serve as print pooler; one additional print journalist, occupying the seat formerly provided to wire services; a television network crew; a secondary television network or streaming service; one radio journalist; one 'new media/independent journalist'; and four photographers," reports the Washington Post. The AP, which sued after the administration blocked its access to presidential events for declining to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, said the new policy violates a court order by giving the Trump administration sole discretion over who gets to question the president.
Reactions from the wire services:
- "The wire services represent thousands of news organizations across the US and the world over," said AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton. "The administration's actions continue to disregard the fundamental American freedom to speak without government control or retaliation."
- "It is essential to democracy that the public have access to independent, impartial ,and accurate news about their government," a Reuters spokesperson said. "Any steps by the US government to limit access to the president threatens that principle, both for the public and the world's media."
- "For decades, the daily presence of the wire services in the press pool has ensured that investors and voters across the United States and around the world can rely on accurate real-time reporting on what the president says and does," Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait said. "We deeply regret the decision to remove that permanent level of scrutiny and accountability."
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