Trump's Press Pool Power Play

President Donald Trump has been making waves, but not in the way you might expect. He's been trying to control the press, specifically the Associated Press (AP), by banning them from covering his events. The reason? The AP refused to change its style guide to match Trump's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America. " The AP argued that since the Gulf is shared by multiple countries, it's not up to the U. S. to rename it. Trump's response? He kicked the AP out of the White House press pool, which is a group of reporters who cover the president's events. This pool is crucial for sharing information with the broader press corps. The White House has always controlled the size of the pool, but never chosen which news outlets participate. That decision is usually made by the White House Correspondents' Association. The AP has historically had one of the three permanent wire service slots in the pool each day. The others right now are Reuters and Bloomberg, but neither matches the AP in reach, either in the U. S. or globally.

The pool's existence benefits any president, especially one like Trump who came from the television entertainment world. The pool reporters wait for hours in a van outside Mar-a-Lago, in a parking lot, in a driveway, and finally outside a small ballroom where Trump was going to speak to Republican senators he had invited there. The pool's existence for the entire Super Bowl visit was manipulated by Trump's White House for his benefit. There was no "news" value to anything we did in New Orleans. The fundamental issue is the composition of that pool. Trump has every right to decide which events are open to the press, or not, and at which events he will take questions, or not. What he should not have the right to do is decide which outlets are permitted to take part in the pool. Which is why how the WHCA responds to Trump here is critical. Trump needs and wants the reach of the real media, not just his fan club. We should stand by our colleagues at the AP, which is actually an alma mater for many of us. We should tell the White House that if the AP is not invited to participate in his photo ops, then we’re not interested, either.

Actions