Story by Alize Martinez, Photo Courtesy of Jabin Botsford
White House officials announced on Feb. 25, 2025, that the Trump administration will now determine which news outlets can interview President Donald J. Trump. This defeats the purpose of a free press if the government can control who writes about the president.
The press pool is a group of journalists from radio, television, and print outlets who ask questions in a group setting after the president makes announcements, such as new executive orders or changes in major departments.
Before this announcement, independent journalists from Washington–also known as the White House Correspondent Association (WHCA)–chose which news outlets would interview the president, ensuring fairness on both sides.
It was better when the WHCA chose because the government couldn’t prepare or script a decisive answer to interview questions. Now the fear is that they will hand-pick news outlets who will favor and change the narrative in favor of the president.
WHCA president Eugene Daniels said how “this move tears at the independence of the free press in the United States…in a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.”
Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, stated that this new rule gives more news outlets the chance to interview the president. She noted that this change would give access back to the people: “The White House press team, in this administration, will determine who gets to enjoy [and interview] the very privileged and limited accessed spaces such as Air Force One and the Oval Office.” said Leavitt.
The Air Force One and Oval Office are places where journalism organizations can interview the president. Leavitt essentially calls it a privilege instead of a right for journalists to interview them in these places, which really doesn’t sit right with me.
Moreover, they even blocked the AP (Associated Press) news agency from attending some White House events because they refused to write the “Gulf Of Mexico” instead of “Gulf of America,” which was President Trump’s name change executive order.
“We’re going to keep them out until they agree that it’s the Gulf of America,” Trump told reporters.
The president shouldn’t be allowed to block for reasons like that, and the “Gulf of America” change is absurd to me. This breaks the First Amendment; he shouldn’t block them just because they don’t write what he wants them to write–regardless if it’s an executive order as useless as this one.
This not only affects the big journalists but also impacts smaller news outlets.
