The Trump Administration has made changes to a decades-old rule
The White House has sparked controversy with a new decision about who can cover President Trump.
For decades, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) has managed the press pool, selecting journalists and news outlets authorized to report on the president. However, this long-standing tradition is about to change. Moving forward, the White House itself will determine which news organizations get regular access to cover President Trump.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the change, framing it as a modernization of the press pool designed to increase inclusivity. She suggested it would provide more access to a broader range of media outlets, including streaming services, and give the American people a more direct connection to the president.
“From now on, the White House press pool will be determined by our press team,” Leavitt explained during a briefing on February 25. “A select group of DC-based journalists should no longer have a monopoly on press access at the White House.”
Her announcement follows a legal victory for the Trump administration, which won a temporary ruling barring the Associated Press (AP) from attending certain presidential events. This came after AP refused to use the White House’s preferred name for the Gulf of Mexico, now called the “Gulf of America.”
After being banned from attending the events, the Associated Press (AP) took legal action against White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and two other officials, claiming a violation of the First Amendment.
However, US District Judge Trevor N. McFadden ruled that AP had not proven it had suffered “irreparable harm” from the ban. While he urged the Trump administration to reconsider the two-week-old restriction, he also noted that existing case law in the circuit did not favor the White House’s position.
Judge McFadden’s ruling is only temporary, and he emphasized that further exploration of the issue was needed before making a final decision. A follow-up hearing has been scheduled for late March.
The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) has strongly opposed the White House’s move to take control of the press pool. Eugene Daniels, the organization’s president, expressed his concerns in a statement to The Guardian, saying: “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.”
He went on to emphasize the WHCA’s longstanding commitment to expanding its membership and rotating outlets to include new and emerging voices. Daniels pointed out that for generations, elected journalists on the WHCA board have worked to ensure diverse representation and access, rather than allowing the government to dictate who covers the president.
