Breaking with decades of precedent, the Trump White House is insisting on the ability to choose which reporters cover the president.
Kevin Robillard at HuffPost:
Donald Trump’s White House kicked a HuffPost reporter out of the pool of journalists set to follow the president on Wednesday, breaking with decades of precedent, and insisting they have the ability to pick and choose which reporters cover the president. The White House also kicked the Reuters wire service out of its spot in the pool for Wednesday, escalating a fight which began after the White House insisted The Associated Press comply with Trump’s decision to arbitrarily rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” The moves fit in with the increasingly authoritarian nature of Trump’s second term, which has seen him deploy the federal government to go after his critics and political enemies, and work to expand the powers of the executive branch to unprecedented levels. “HuffPost condemns this egregious violation of the First Amendment. Americans deserve fair and honest reporting on their president,” HuffPost editor-in-chief Whitney Snyder said. “The White House must stop this cowardly behavior and restore HuffPost’s place in the press pool immediately.” HuffPost White House reporter S.V. Dáte, who questioned Trump on Air Force One earlier this month, was set to fill the spot typically reserved for a print reporter in the pool, which tracks the president throughout the day and sends updates to the broader group of reporters who cover the president. For decades, the White House Correspondents’ Association has determined the rotation of reporters who fill spots dedicated for radio, television, print and wire service reporters. But after 10 p.m. on Tuesday night, the White House informed Date there was “no room” for him in the pool. A reporter from Axios, a digital publication famous for its extreme commitment to brevity, is instead serving as the print pooler. There is also only one wire service in the pool instead of the typical three, while spots were handed to Newsmax and The Blaze, two right-wing outlets. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, a failed congressional candidate, announced the White House was taking control of the pool during Tuesday’s press briefing, saying it needed to ensure access to new news outlets.
Tyrant 47’s White House has bumped HuffPost and Reuters from the White House Press Pool in favor of right-wing state propaganda organs Newsmax and TheBlaze and access journalist purveyors Axios.
This is all about ensuring only Trump-favorable outlets get to cover him in the press pool while freezing out even mildly critical outlets such as the AP and HuffPost.
