Statement on the Unprecedented Exclusion of Wires on International Trip

For the first time since the White House press corps started traveling with American presidents abroad, no wire service reporter is aboard Air Force One today. As the president travels across the ocean for high-stakes meetings in the Middle East, the White House has decided not to include any wire reporter on the presidential aircraft.

The White House pool was created to be representative of the different types of media outlets that serve different readers. Leaving out the wires is a disservice to Americans who need news about their president, especially on foreign trips where anything could happen and the consequences can impact the entire world.

If you have read or watched the news, you’ve relied on the words written and transmitted immediately by wire reporters from The Associated Press, Bloomberg or Reuters. Their reports are distributed quickly to thousands of news outlets and millions of readers throughout the world every day, so all have equal access to coverage of the presidency. This change is a disservice to every American who deserves to know what their highest elected leader is up to, as quickly as possible.

The WHCA is disturbed by this new restriction on who can cover this White House and continued retaliation for independent editorial decisions. The WHCA is advocating for the wire service journalists to return to their seats on Air Force One where they have reliably covered every president for decades, not for us but for the millions of Americans who depend on their reporting every day.