The White House announced it will take control of the press pool covering President Trump, marking the first time in decades that an administration will select which reporters join the pool for questioning. The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) objected, asserting this undermines independent press coverage. The press pool, established during Eisenhower’s presidency, allows a small group of reporters to document the president’s activities and ensure public access to information. The Trump administration plans to allow both legacy media and alternative outlets, including podcasters and influencers. This shift raises concerns about impartiality, as traditional news organizations face exclusion.
On Tuesday, the White House declared it would take control of the press pool covering President Trump, marking the first time in decades an administration has mandated which news outlets and reporters can be in close proximity to query the president in settings like the Oval Office and Air Force One.
In response, on Wednesday night, Eugene Daniels, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, announced that the board of directors, representing news entities covering the president, would cease distributing pool reports from correspondents selected by the White House.
“This board will not support any efforts by this administration or any future one to take over independent coverage of the White House,” stated Mr. Daniels, who is also a Politico reporter. “This action from the White House jeopardizes the independence of a free press in the United States. It implies that the government will dictate which journalists cover the president.”
This decision by the White House and the correspondents’ association’s reaction prompts inquiries: What is the press pool? Why is it established? How does this situation differ from prior occurrences?
The White House press pool was established during President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration to address a practical issue: When the president is in the news, who among the hundreds of correspondents gets access?
The resolution, formulated through collaboration between media outlets and administrations from both parties, involved assembling a small group of correspondents, TV cameras, and photographers to serve as the eyes and ears of the wider White House press corps in these intimate environments.
The arrangement is as follows: The White House permits a select group of reporters to accompany the president in specific locations, while the White House Correspondents’ Association determines which correspondents make up that group. Founded in 1914, the W.H.C.A. is an independent body whose members hold accreditation to cover the president.
While the composition of the pool has evolved over the years, it presently includes three wire service reporters, two print or online reporters, a radio journalist, four photographers, and a television crew composed of a producer, an audio technician, and a camera operator.
For many years, the correspondents’ association and media organizations selected which journalists filled these roles, partly to prevent the White House, regardless of party affiliation, from exclusively designating “friendly” outlets to inquire of the president.
Once determined, these names are communicated to the White House, which assists in coordinating logistics necessary for access to the Oval Office, Air Force One, or other secure locations.
What changes does the White House seek?
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that the White House would determine which journalists rotated into the pool positions, rather than the correspondents’ association. This gives the Trump administration control over which journalists communicate the president’s activities to the public.
“Going forward, the White House press pool will be established by the White House press team. Legacy outlets that have participated in the press pool for years will continue to be allowed, don’t worry. However, we will also extend this opportunity to deserving outlets that have never had the chance to take on this significant responsibility.”
This alteration occurs as the White House diminishes the capacity of major news outlets to report on its activities. The Trump administration had already barred The Associated Press from the pool after it refused to comply with the president’s request to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
The A.P. has also been excluded from Air Force One.
On Wednesday, the administration announced that a television crew from Newsmax, a conservative network, along with journalists from The Blaze and Axios would be included in the White House pool. The administration stated that The A.P. would remain excluded and that Reuters would also not be permitted to participate.
It remains uncertain which news organizations will be allowed to accompany Mr. Trump during his anticipated weekend trip to Florida.
What is the role of pool members?
The pool reporter distributes a pool report that details the president’s remarks, actions, and movements for the rest of the press corps. In 2003, Mike Allen, then a reporter for the Washington Post, served as the pool reporter on Air Force One during President George W. Bush’s covert trip to Baghdad. Mr. Allen later documented the takeoff:
“8:25 p.m. Air Force One started moving. 8:27 p.m. Air Force One took off. Journalists peeked out the shades and noted that the plane had none of the running lights that are usually visible, including the red or green lights on the wings. The movie ‘Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines’ began playing in the press cabin. 8:45 p.m. The plane appeared to be flying unusually fast.”
Pool reports have chronicled significant presidential events. In 2023, Wall Street Journal reporter Sabrina Siddiqui traveled incognito with President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to Ukraine’s war-torn capital. As the pool reporter, she filed several reports detailing the president’s travel and meetings in Ukraine.
“Due to security concerns, the pool has agreed not to release real-time updates regarding the president’s movements. Complete details on how he arrived and the transportation methods are being withheld until the president has safely exited the country.”
In addition to reporting on the president’s remarks and actions in confined spaces, media organizations and the White House historically agreed to maintain a “protective pool” to ensure the public receives prompt information about the president’s health and safety.
For this reason, a press pool travels alongside the president in vans that are part of the presidential motorcade. If the president travels to the U.S. Capitol in the motorcade, the press pool accompanies him. When the president moves through the streets of Moscow or Istanbul in his motorcade, the press is present as well. If the president engages in golf for hours, the press pool remains nearby — often in the vans — to ensure they can report quickly if anything occurs regarding the president.
The necessity of the protective pool has been demonstrated multiple times over the years. An unofficial pool of campaign reporters was with Mr. Trump during the 2024 campaign when he was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania. In 1981, a pool accompanied President Ronald Reagan during an assassination attempt at the Washington Hilton, with Judy Woodruff as a reporter for PBS in the protective pool that day.
Who does the White House wish to include in the pool?
The White House has not provided specific details but Ms. Leavitt mentioned a desire to increase access for podcasters, social media influencers, and other creators of “news-related content.”
Recently, the administration has actively sought to increase access for partisan figures supportive of the administration, including podcast host Sage Steele and Brian Glenn from the Right Side Broadcasting Network.
Numerous news organizations are eager to join the pool, which offers reporters a close perspective on the president’s activities and the chance to pose questions to him. However, until now, only members of the correspondents’ association have been permitted in the pool.
The association’s membership encompasses several hundred correspondents. To become a full member, reporters must first secure a Capitol Hill press credential, live locally, and cover the White House full time.
“The W.H.C.A. reserves membership for outlets demonstrating a commitment to the beat and to high-quality, fact-based journalism,” the association states on its website.
One of the major barriers to gaining participation in the press pool is the cost involved.
Each time a reporter boards Air Force One or travels in the president’s motorcade, the associated costs are billed to the news organizations. Taxpayers do not cover the media’s expenses. Hotels, meals, internet services, and ground transportation are all invoiced back to the media outlets.
These costs can add up. Traveling with the president on brief domestic trips can amount to several thousand dollars per person. International trips to regions like Asia, Africa, or Europe often exceed tens of thousands of dollars per individual. A television network sending multiple reporters to cover the president abroad frequently incurs expenses surpassing $100,000 for a weeklong visit.
Individual bloggers or small online news organizations often cannot afford these costs. As they have access to the pool reports from larger organizations, most smaller or independent journalists tend to opt out of the press pool system voluntarily.