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Instead of restoring access to The Associated Press newswire, as required by a federal judge, the Trump administration is removing the wire position in the daily press corps rotation altogether. The change appears designed to withstand legal scrutiny while still disadvantaging The AP, which was singled out by President Donald Trump earlier this year for still using the name Gulf of Mexico. Ultimately the impacts will be felt by newswire customers, including local news outlets that rely on The AP for just-the-facts coverage because they don’t have White House correspondents of their own.
At issue is the composition of the so-called “press pool,” a small group of journalists who travel with the president and cover events on behalf of the entire press corps. Having a pool rotation is critical because many presidential events, like Oval Office photo ops and Air Force One Q&A’s, take place in small group settings. For decades the pool assignments were determined by the White House Correspondents’ Association, an independent group that represents the press.
But in February Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt cut the group out and took control of the pool. Most news outlets that previously took turns in the pool have continued to do so. Leavitt also added a couple of spots, which often (but not always) go to new media outlets that cheerlead for Trump rather than impartially cover him.
On Tuesday a White House official formalized pool criteria in a memo , and pointedly omitted a spot for wires, even though wire services like The AP are foundational to White House coverage. Instead, there will now be a second print journalist spot, and wires will be eligible for the two print spots, along with many others. In practice this means The AP, Reuters and Bloomberg will have markedly less access than they did in January, when all three were in the pool every day.
The Trump administration instigated a fight with The AP back in February because the wire service did not change its stylebook from “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America.” While Trump directed the US government to rename the Gulf, other countries do not recognize the new name. The AP is a global news outlet, so its stories still refer to the Gulf of Mexico while also acknowledging Trump’s decree.
The Trump White House started to bar AP journalists from pooled events, and even full-fledged press conferences, citing the Gulf dispute. The AP filed suit in federal court , alleging violations of the First and Fifth Amendments. Last week Judge Trevor McFadden sided with the wire service , writing that “the Constitution forbids viewpoint discrimination, even in a nonpublic forum like the Oval Office.
” McFadden said the White House had to “put the AP on an equal playing field as similarly situated outlets, despite the AP’s use of disfavored terminology.” The judge’s order is reflected in the White House’s updated pool plan, which puts The AP and “similarly situated outlets” like Reuters and Bloomberg on an “equal playing field” by changing the field altogether. Refuting the allegation of “viewpoint discrimination,” Tuesday’s memo said “outlets will be eligible for participation in the Pool, irrespective of the substantive viewpoint expressed by an outlet.
” The AP did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement, Reuters told CNN: “It is essential to democracy that the public have access to independent, impartial and accurate news about their government. Any steps by the U.
S. government to limit access to the President threatens that principle, both for the public and the world’s media.” NBC correspondent Kelly O’Donnell, a past president of the correspondents’ association, bemoaned the cutback to wire access in a social media post.
“Wire reporters are among the most knowledgeable and dedicated to the White House beat,” she wrote. “They are on duty every day of the year and anywhere in the world needed to cover a president. Their work is a key building block for other media’s work.
Wires fill a critical role in the public’s understanding of government and important events.”.
