Statement on WH Changes To Wire Pool Positions
As we’ve said before, the government should not be able to control the independent media that covers it.
The changes to the press pool today show that the White House is just using a new means to do the same thing: retaliate against news organizations for coverage the White House doesn’t like. The WHCA is working to find out what this means in practice but what we do know is that restrictions on White House media coverage only hurt the American people who rely on unfiltered journalism to stay informed and make decisions critical to their lives.
The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and Reuters play an integral role in coverage of the presidency and should be allowed their traditional spots in the pool. Their ability to share news instantly with millions of readers and other smaller news organizations who can’t afford to be at the White House is unmatched.
The White House’s insistence they would also ‘retain day-to-day discretion’ of the pool’s composition rather than utilize regular rotations with clear criteria also underscores that the administration remains unwilling to provide guarantees they will not continue to engage in the viewpoint discrimination that was ruled unlawful by a federal court.
-Eugene Daniels, president of the WHCA