On Wednesday, the White House denied reporters from Reuters and other press outlets, accessing President Donald Trump’s first cabinet meeting in line with the administration’s new policies on media coverage.
The White House denied access to the Associated Press photographer and three reporters, the German newspapers Reuters, HuffPost and Deragspiegel.
The TV crews from ABC and Newsmax were allowed to cover the event, along with correspondents from Axios, Blaze, Bloomberg News and NPR.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced that the White House will decide which media outlets will cover the president in small spaces, such as an oval office.
The White House Correspondents Association has traditionally coordinated the rotation of the Presidential Press Pool. International wire service Reuters has been in the pool for decades.
White House press director Karoline Leavitt said traditional media organizations are allowed to continue to cover Trump on a daily basis, but the administration plans to change people who participate in smaller spaces.
The WHCA-managed pool system allowed the selection of television, radio, wire, print and photojournalists, covered events and shared reports with a wider range of media.
Three wire services traditionally permanent members of the White House Pool, Associated Press, Bloomberg and Reuters, issued a statement on Wednesday in response to the new policy.
The service has long worked to ensure that accurate, fair and timely information about the presidency is communicated to a wide audience of all political persuasion, both in the US and around the world. Much of the White House reporting comes from wires wherever you are in the world, found on local news outlets,” the three organizations’ statements state.
“In a democracy, it is essential that the people have access to government news from the independent, free press.”
Huffpost called the White House decision a violation of its initial right to amend the freedom of the press. On Tuesday, the WHCA also issued a statement protesting new White House policies.
The move follows the Trump administration’s decision to ban Associated Press from being in the pool as it refused to call the Gulf of Mexico the US Gulf, and updated a style book that the name Trump has assigned waters or has widely tracked to reflect such changes.
Leavitt said five major cable and broadcast television networks will continue to hold swivel seats in the pool while the White House adds streaming services. Rotating print and radio reporters will continue to be included, with new outlets and radio hosts added.