The leaders of Reuters, The Associated Press, and Bloomberg News issued a joint statement Wednesday condemning "any steps" to "limit" the inclusion of wire services from the White House press pool.
"The three permanent wires in the White House pool, The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and Reuters, have long worked to ensure that accurate, fair and timely information about the presidency is communicated to a broad audience of all political persuasions, both in the United States and globally," the three editors wrote. "Much of the White House coverage people see in their local news outlets, wherever they are in the world, comes from the wires.
"It is essential in a democracy for the public to have access to news about their government from an independent, free press," they said. "We believe that any steps by the government to limit the number of wire services with access to the President threatens that principle. It also harms the spread of reliable information to people, communities, businesses and global financial markets that heavily depend on our reporting."
In a major shake-up on Tuesday, the White House announced that the Trump administration will decide which media organizations receive access to the Oval Office and space-limited events. The move strips the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) of its historical role in scheduling the rotation of pool correspondents.
Mediaite reported that the WHCA blasted the White House decision, saying it "tears at the independence of a free press."
The change in protocol is seemingly the latest salvo in the AP's two-week-old donnybrook with the Trump administration over White House access. Earlier this month, the administration began barring the wire service from the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other areas due to the AP's refusal to change its style in referring to the Gulf of Mexico, which President Donald Trump renamed the "Gulf of America" via executive order.
A federal judge on Monday declined to immediately order the White House to restore the AP's access to presidential events, saying the issue warranted further exploration before ruling.
U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden said the AP had not demonstrated that it had suffered irreparable harm in the matter and urged the administration to reconsider, as case law "is uniformly unhelpful to the White House."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described Tuesday's procedural change as an effort to make room for "new media," such as podcasts and streaming platforms, while still holding space for "legacy outlets."
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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