The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it will not keep a regular hole in the presidential journalism group of three independent Newose participated decades ago, including the Associated Press.
This step is the latest effort by the White House for more control over the dedicated press Corps, which provides reports on its daily activities. It has also been new wrinkles in a legal battle that was revealed with the AP, which has been prevented in the past two months from covering small events with the president.
A federal judge said last week that the White House had to restore full access to AP journalists, and it is issued that the administration’s ban is a violation of the first amendment. The White House resumed, and a hearing was set on Thursday.
The Presidential Press Group is a small group of correspondents who give access to the most intimate events with the president, such as oval office receptions, and transfer procedures to other journalists and the broader audience. These are logistical accommodations for smaller spaces that cannot fit dozens of correspondents, and an opportunity for reporters to interact closely with the president and ask direct questions.
In February, decades of the two parties are obstructed, the administration said it will start to create the members of the group, and wrestle control away from the independent White House Representative AssociationWho criticized this step. “In a free country, leaders should not choose their press corps,” the group said at the time.
On Tuesday, the White House press secretary, Caroline Levitte, released a more specific set of guidelines for the press group, including eliminating an opening for journalists who represent one of the three main New Yousses: AP, Bloomberg News and Ruters. (Newswires distributes joint news articles, videos and photographs of thousands of other media throughout the United States and the world, which many cannot employ journalists in Washington.)
Ms. Levitte said that this opening will be fill instead by an additional journalist from the printed media outlet, which was chosen from the rotation of dozens. The three journalists in New Zears are still qualified to fill the printed media opening, but they will not be given access to these types of presidential events on a daily basis. Change was reported for the first time New York Post.
“The White House journalist keeps the daily appreciation to determine the composition of the pool.” “This is essential to ensure the president’s message reaching the target masses and that the outlets in force in the subjects applied are present as events.”
President Trump and his allies began a multi -side effort to weaken the branches of the independent American press, to file lawsuits against ABC and CBS and threaten to cancel broadcast licenses for major networks.
The management conflict with the AP stems from continuing the use of newswire for the term “Mexico Bay” to refer to the water body, which was called by Mr. Trump to call the Gulf of America in an executive matter.
In response, White House officials in February prevented the AP journalists from participating in the press group, which prompted the Niors to file a lawsuit to regain its arrival.
Bloomberg and AP representatives immediately did not return the suspension requests on Tuesday. White House Representatives Association did not comment immediately.
“We are still committed to covering the White House in a neutral, accurate and independent way,” Reuters spokeswoman said in a statement.
Trump officials say the changes aim to give more opportunities to the unconventional media as the Americans consume information from places that go beyond traditional news sources. “The old media that was here for years will remain participating in the group, but new voices will also be welcomed,” said Ms. Levitte in February.
Earlier this year, I released AP, Bloomberg and Reuters Joint Saying that “a lot of coverage of the White House is seen by people in local news, wherever they are in the world, it comes from the wires.”
“It is necessary in democracy that the public can reach news about their government from the independent free press.” “We believe that any government steps to reduce the number of wire services that can be accessed to the president threaten this principle.”