White House Trump Press Poo
AxiosFEB 24
White House Says It Will Manage Press Pool
Above: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Image copyright: Alex Wong/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday announced that the administration would take direct control of selecting media outlets for the presidential press pool, ending the White House Correspondents' Association's (WHCA) decades-long role in managing press access.
Leavitt said that legacy media outlets would retain access but the White House is "giving the power back to the people" by welcoming new voices, including streaming services and radio hosts.
The WHCA, founded in 1914, has traditionally managed the press pool system, representing nearly 800 members from approximately 300 news organizations.
The Spin
Pro-Trump narrative
It's time for the White House press operation to be modernized to reflect current media habits and give more diverse outlets access to presidential coverage. Legacy media elites should not monopolize access to the president, and this change returns power to the American people by ensuring broader representation in the press pool.
Anti-Trump narrative
This unprecedented move threatens the freedom of the press and once again reflects Trump's thin skin. Rather than borrow his predecessors' approach and ignore media outlets he doesn't like, Trump, who in the past has sued media outlets over coverage he found objectionable, has decided to dictate what the coverage of him looks like.