Nirel '25
On Feb. 25, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the White House would select which media outlets are permitted to cover President Donald Trump and his administration. This announcement represents a shift away from the decades-long practice that previously allowed the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) to select a rotating pool of reporters from various media outlets.
This move came after over two months of Trump changing press coverage of the White House. This past January and February, the Trump administration restored more than 400 press passes that were revoked during the Biden Administration and barred Associated Press (AP) reporters from the White House after the AP did not change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on their website. In addition, during the first press briefing of the new administration on Jan. 28, Leavitt said the White House would open press briefings to “new media voices” like podcasters and influencers.
Following this announcement, the administration opened a new application on WhiteHouse.gov/newmedia for independent journalists, podcasters, influencers and even student newspapers who want to cover the White House. Leavitt also said that these new media figures would be seated along the wall at the front of the briefing room, which has traditionally been reserved for major media outlets exclusively.
“We also, again, encourage anybody in this country, whether you are a TikTok content creator, a blogger, a podcaster, if you are producing legitimate news content, no matter the medium, you will be allowed to apply for press credentials to this White House,” Leavitt said in a press briefing on Jan. 29.
Since the application was announced in January, the White House has received over 10,000 press pass applications on its website from a wide range of nontraditional news sources.
A month later, Leavitt announced the decision to have the White House control its own press pool, shifting power away from the WHCA, an independent association of journalists. While Leavitt said the move expands access to coverage of the White House, the change has garnered a surge of criticism across the political spectrum.
For the past 70 years, the WHCA has managed the rotating press pool that is granted access to cover spaces like White House press conferences, the Oval Office and Air Force One. Now, according to Leavitt, while traditional media outlets will continue to have access, the administration will have control in revising membership to the press pool.
“A select group of DC-based journalists should no longer have a monopoly over the privilege of press access at the White House,” Leavitt said. “Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team.”
Fox News Senior White House Correspondent and WHCA board member Jacqui Heinrich said that giving the administration control over which journalists can cover the White House could lead to censorship of the media.
“This move does not give the power back to the people – it gives power to the White House,” Heinrich wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “The WHCA is democratically elected by the full-time White House press corps. This is a short-sighted decision, and it will feel a lot different when a future Democratic administration kicks out conservative-leaning outlets and other critical voices.”
In a statement released right after Leavitt’s announcement on Feb. 25, WHCA President Eugene Daniels also expressed concern about protecting the freedom of the press.
“This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States,” Daniels said. It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.”