Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich condemned the White House on Tuesday after it announced that it was seizing power from the White House Correspondents’ Association and would now handpick news outlets that will be allowed to participate in the presidential press pool.
“This move does not give the power back to the people – it gives power to the White House. The WHCA is democratically elected by the full-time White House press corps,” Heinrich, who is a board member of the WHCA, tweeted.
“WHCA has determined pools for decades because only representatives FROM our outlets can determine resources all those outlets have – such as staffing – in order to get the President’s message out to the largest possible audience, no matter the day or hour,” she added.
A pool is a limited number of reporters who are invited to an event and provide information to all outlets. The pool often provides a basic transcription of what took place.
In a separate tweet, Heinrich noted that despite how White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the group on Tuesday, the “WHCA has advocated to expand access to news events, beyond just the pool.” She also pointed out that the White House decides whether an event is “open press” or “pool only,” adding that “administrations limit access to ‘pool only’ because of security or space constraints.”
A Fox News host blasted the White House’s new press policy announced by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (AP)
“WHCA’s job in that scenario is to ensure that the pool includes representation from each constituency (radio, tv, wires, print, stills, new media) to get the news out to the fullest possible extent,” Heinrich concluded. “Our job is to advocate for the MOST access possible.”
Amid the White House’s ongoing battle with the Associated Press over its demand that the wire service use “Gulf of America,” which has prompted the WHCA to privately push the administration to return access to the AP, Leavitt announced at Tuesday’s press briefing that it would now choose the press pool participants going forward.
“I’m proud to announce that we are going to give the power back to the people who read your papers, who watch television shows, and who listen to your radio stations,” she declared. “Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team.”
Leavitt continued: “Just like we added a new media seat in this briefing room, legacy media outlets who have been here for years will still participate in the pool, but new voices are going to be welcomed in as well. As part of these changes, we will continue the rotation amongst the five major television networks to ensure the president’s remarks are heard far and wide around this world. We will add additional streaming services which reach different audiences than traditional cable and broadcast.”
She also accused the WHCA of holding a “monopoly over the privilege of press access,” claiming that “the White House will restore power to the American people who President Trump was elected to serve.”
The move, which breaks decades of tradition and precedent, left the WHCA blindsided as there had been no prior discussions about any potential change, according to the group’s president Eugene Daniels. In a statement released shortly after the briefing, Daniels said the decision “tears at the independence of a free press in the United States.”
“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,” he added. “The W.H.C.A. will never stop advocating for comprehensive access, full transparency and the right of the American public to read, listen to and watch reports from the White House, delivered without fear or favor.”
National Press Club president Mike Balsamo also denounced the change, saying in a statement that it was a “direct challenge to the independence of a free press in the United States.” Additionally, he noted that the press pool “should never be replaced by a handpicked group of insiders” and urged the White House to “reverse course immediately and preserve the integrity of the press pool for the good of our democracy.”
