The White House has excluded reporters from Reuters, HuffPost, and Germany’s Der Tagesspiegel from covering President Donald Trump’s first cabinet meeting, a move that has sparked concerns about press access. The exclusion also extended to an Associated Press (AP) reporter and photographer, who had already been barred from the press pool earlier this month.
New Press Policy Restricts Media Access
The AP’s removal reportedly stemmed from its refusal to adopt the term “Gulf of America” instead of “Gulf of Mexico.” Meanwhile, outlets including ABC, Newsmax, Axios, The Blaze, Bloomberg News, and NPR were allowed to attend.
This decision follows a new policy announced by the Trump administration, which allows the White House to determine which media outlets can attend coverage in confined spaces, such as the Oval Office. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified that while mainstream media would still be able to report on Trump’s administration, the selection process for exclusive events would be revised.
Wire Services Push Back Against Exclusion
Traditionally, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) manages a rotating pool of journalists covering presidential events, ensuring broad access to government proceedings. However, on Wednesday, that system was bypassed.
Reuters, AP, and Bloomberg News issued a joint statement in response:
“The three permanent wires in the White House pool—The Associated Press, Bloomberg News, and Reuters—have long worked to ensure accurate, fair, and timely information about the presidency is communicated to a broad audience. Much of the White House coverage seen in local news outlets worldwide comes from these wire services.”
They further stressed the importance of press freedom:
“It is essential in a democracy for the public to have access to news about their government from an independent, free press. Any steps limiting the number of wire services with access to the President threaten this principle and hinder the spread of reliable information to communities, businesses, and global financial markets that depend on our reporting.”
HuffPost’s White House Correspondent Replaced
S.V. Date, a veteran White House correspondent for HuffPost known for previous confrontations with Trump, was set to represent both newspaper and online print media at Wednesday’s meeting. However, he was unexpectedly replaced by an Axios reporter.
Reflecting on the situation, Date shared his experience with other journalists:
“I’ve been pooling for 10 years, since the Obama administration. The number of times any White House—Obama’s, Trump’s first term, Biden’s, or Trump’s second term—has asked for a correction in one of my pool reports? Zero. The number of times they’ve asked for a correction in one of my stories? Also zero. So, it’s not about accuracy or competence—I’ll let them explain what it’s about.”
A White House official later told DailyMail:
“The [White House Correspondents’ Association] pool that HuffPost was a part of no longer exists.”
This development signals a shift in the administration’s approach to press access, raising questions about how media coverage of the Trump presidency will be handled moving forward.
