Today, the White House announced that the White House gets to select which members of the press get to participate in the press pool instead of the White House Correspondents Association which has handled that responsibility in the past...for decades.
“This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States,” Eugene Daniels, the president of the association, wrote. “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.”
This smacks of censorship and limiting the public's access to the news and is clearly a violation of the Constitutional right to a free press. But of course that's not the spin from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
"Ms. Leavitt did not provide specific details of how the plan might work, but it would allow President Trump and his aides to handpick which reporters and media personalities were granted the ability to ask him questions and observe his behavior at specific events.
Ms. Leavitt put a different spin on it. “By deciding which outlets make up the limited press pool on a day-to-day basis, the White House will be restoring power back to the American people,” she said."
And of courses this announcement was made by Ms. Leavitt without any warning to the press corps or any discussion with the WHCA. I guess this should come as no surprise to those of us paying attention.
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