USA White House usurps reporters' occupation of the Oval Office
Reporters' questions that seem predetermined, for example about US President Donald Trump's track record in his first days in office, are now part of everyday life in Washington.
26.02.2025, 03:56
SDA
Trump chooses his questioners more selectively, press accreditations are redistributed, exclusive interviews are given to the house and court broadcaster Fox News. Now the White House is going one step further: the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA), founded in 1914 as an association of journalists accredited to the White House, is to be partially disempowered.
The independent association previously had sovereignty over the so-called correspondent pool and thus determined which reporters would report on behalf of all accredited journalists, for example in the event of limited space. In future, this will be decided by the White House media team, according to the government agency. "The WHCA has long dictated which journalists can ask the President of the United States questions in highly private situations - no more," said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
The "pool" comprises a selection of reporters who are on site - for example at events with limited space - and pass on their information to all accredited journalists as part of a standardized procedure. This applies, for example, to Trump's appearances in the Oval Office of the White House or the flight in the press cabin of the presidential plane Air Force One.
Reporters' association: breach of press freedom
The Reporters Association sees the White House's actions as an outright breach of press freedom in the United States. "In a free country, the leadership must not decide on the composition of reporters," it said in a statement. The US newspaper "New York Times" described the decision in a spokesperson statement on Platform X as an "attempt to undermine the public's access to independent, trustworthy information about the most powerful person in America."
The current reason for the White House's move is the dispute with the US news agency AP, which has been ongoing for weeks and has now also been taken to court. The internationally active agency, which is respected worldwide for its neutrality based on statutes, did not adopt the new designation "Gulf of America" specified by Trump.
Dispute with news agency AP in court
AP continues to refer to the waters south of the US Atlantic coast, internationally known as the "Gulf of Mexico", by the name it has been known by for 400 years. As a result, AP reporters no longer enjoy the privilege of access to the Oval Office. AP and the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) took legal action against this. However, a judge did not initially issue an injunction against the White House.
Trump himself said that he believed the Associated Press was part of the "radical left". He described an unnamed AP reporter as a "radical left-wing nut job". "They're not treating us fairly."
Other media should be given access to the pool
Unlike many others, the pool of reporters, which is composed according to certain criteria and on a rotating basis, has direct access to the president and often has the opportunity to ask direct questions. The composition of the pool is regulated by the WHCA in a circular procedure. For more than 100 years, the organization has always expanded access for as many media professionals as possible, said President Eugene Daniels.
This is not enough for the Trump administration. More media are to be added and the influence of the traditional media apparently reduced. New additions should include local radio and television stations that are close to the people and reflect the "heartbeat of the country".
Many of the local stations belong to the Sinclair media group, which is considered to be strongly right-wing populist and is known for giving its journalists centrally controlled guidelines for reporting. Together with Fox News, they are cited by media scholars as one of the main pillars of Donald Trump's disinformation policy.
