After banning access to Associated Press, the presidency goes further. There are those who talk to a measure that will “destroy the independence of a free press”
The White House will decide which media will participate in the press group that covers Donald Trump’s agenda, what the main news agencies call “unprecedented control” that breaks a “independent” form of Newly cover the presidency.
The measure, announced on Tuesday by Karoline Leavitt, spokesman for the US President, appears after the Trump government’s decision to ban Associated Press from being part of the press group because the agency refused to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as Gulf of America.
Associated Press has already advanced with a lawsuit against three Trump administration officials for barriers to access to presidential events, citing the right to freedom of expression, reports. However, this Monday, a federal judge to immediately have full access to the events of the president.
For almost a century, it was the White House Correspondent Association (WhCA), founded in 1914, which created a pool of journalists to cover the US President’s agenda, especially in the smallest spaces of the White House, such as Oval room, or even on the Air Force One presidential plane.
Eugene Daniels, president of the White House Correspondent Association, says the decision “destroys the independence of a free press,” he says, which is part of the WhCA.
With this new system, journalists selected by the White House Press Office – and may be of television or radio media, agency, newspapers and even photojournalists – cover the events at the White House and share their reports with the rest media. Leavitt classified change as a modernization, arguing that, being the White House to choose the press to be present, would be more inclusive and would restore “access back to the American people.”
According to the White House, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News and NBC News will continue to be part of the allowed media, but the White House also wants to open doors to streaming platforms, so that the dissemination of the videos is more comprehensive.
