The White House Correspondents Association will no longer be responsible for determining which outlets get privileged access to the briefing room and the White House, President Donald Trump’s administration announced Tuesday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says the White House press team will now determine the rotations and which outlets get access, upending decades of WHCA supremacy. Leavitt clarified that legacy media outlets that have been prominent within the WHCA will still have a presence at briefings, and that the five major television networks will still be relied on to broadcast White House events.
“I am proud to announce that we are going to give the power back to the people who read your papers, who watch your television shows, and who listen to your radio stations. Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team. Legacy outlets who have participated in the press pool for decades will still be allowed to join, fear not. But we will also be offering the privilege to well-deserving outlets who have never been allowed to share in this awesome responsibility,” Leavitt told reporters during Tuesday’s briefing.
The announcement comes just days after The Associated Press sued the Trump White House for denying the outlet access to the briefing room, Air Force One and other exclusive areas. A federal judge ruled in favor of the White House on Monday.
AP senior vice president and executive editor Julie Pace wrote to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles last week after a reporter was blocked from attending a White House event.
“The actions taken by this White House were plainly intended to punish the AP for the content of its speech,” Pace wrote, according to an AP report. “It is among the most basic tenets of the First Amendment that the government cannot retaliate against the public or the press for what they say.”
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to Anders.Hagstrom@Fox.com, or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.
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