In latest media crackdown, White House limits newswire access to Trump

Reuters remains committed to covering the White House in an impartial, accurate and independent way, the spokesperson said.

AP said the administration’s actions were a grave disservice to the American people.

“We are deeply disappointed that the administration has chosen to restrict the access of all wire services, whose fast and accurate White House coverage informs billions of people every day, rather than reinstate the Associated Press to the wire pool,” spokesperson Lauren Easton said in a statement to Reuters.

Bloomberg did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Until the current administration, the three wire services — AP, Bloomberg and Reuters — were standard members of the pool. But the White House barred AP in February after it refused to refer to the body of water south of the US as the “Gulf of America” as Trump had ordered it be called.

After shutting out the AP, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said her team would determine “who gets to enjoy the very privileged and limited access in spaces such as Air Force One and the Oval Office.” Until then those places had been decided by the White House Correspondents’ Association, an organisation made up of journalists who cover the White House and the president.

According to guidance provided to Reuters by a White House official on Tuesday, Leavitt will have the discretion to determine the members of the pool on a daily basis “to ensure the president’s message reaches targeted audiences and that outlets with applicable subject matter expertise are present as events warrant”.

The official said outlets will be eligible to be included in the pool “irrespective of the substantive viewpoint expressed by an outlet”.

Last week, a federal judge in Washington ordered the administration to allow AP journalists to attend events open to similar types of news organisations in the Oval Office and on Air Force One, and larger spaces in the White House while its lawsuit moves forward.

The judge found Trump’s White House retaliated against the AP over its editorial choices, violating protections for free speech under the US Constitution. The White House is appealing the ruling.

Reuters