For over a century, the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) has been responsible for setting the standards for reporters who cover the president. Their commitment to independence and professional journalism has ensured that the coverage of the White House and its occupants would be both tough and fair.
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From its inception, the mission of the WHCA has been to “share the belief, held by our country’s Founders and enshrined in the First Amendment, that an independent news media is vital to the health of the republic.” It is, in fact, the only way to ensure that the interests of the people are being served. Unfortunately, Donald Trump doesn’t agree. And he has dispatched his Propaganda Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, to see to the dismantling of the White House press corps.
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As evidence of this betrayal of American principles and the Constitution, Leavitt, made an announcement on Wednesday that further erodes any pretense by the Trump administration to value the free press. She said that…
“As you all know, a group of D.C.-based journalists, the White House Correspondents Association, has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the President of the United States in these intimate spaces, Not anymore. I am proud to announce that we are giving the power back to the people who read your papers, who watch your television shows, and who listen to your radio stations. Moving forward, the White House press pool, will be determined by the White House Press Team.”
First of all, Leavitt is engaging in the sort of disinformation that is the hallmark of the Trump regime. The WHCA does not “dictate which journalists get to ask questions of the President.” They evaluate the credentials of White House correspondents, and approve those who meet the high standards that warrant access to the halls of power. It is a merit based system that the White House is permitted to participate in.
More to the point, Leavitt’s decree that the WHCA will no longer perform the function that they have been fulfilling admirably for decades is a spine-chilling imitation of how the media is oppressed under the thumb of Vladimir Putin’s Politburo. She isn’t “giving the power back to the people.” She’s giving it to the wannabe dictator who regularly maligns the press as “the enemy of the people.”
This change means that Trump and his flunkies will decide who gets to ask him questions. And their recent decrees in that regard have been guided by their flagrant biases and vengefulness. It could not be more obvious that they intend to censor all those who are not adoringly worshipful of Trump. They have already replaced longstanding media outlets like NBC News, the New York Times, and NPR, with One America News Network, the New York Post, and Breitbart News. These are not exactly icons of journalistic integrity.
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The WHCA responded to this authoritarian decree in a statement saying that…
“This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States. It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.” – Eugene Daniels, White House Correspondents’ Association president.
Trump himself weighed in on the issue saying that…
“We’re gonna be now calling those shots. As you know, we won that lawsuit right there, see the Gulf of America, which is a beautiful name. Most people agree.
“AP has been terrible. I think they’re radical left. I think they’re third rate reporters. I know the specific young lady that works on the account is terrible. she’s a radical left lunatic, as far as I’m concerned.”
Trump on the new policy of the White House picking the journalists who cover the White House: "Well, we're gonna be now calling those shots."
So Herr Trump is bragging that he will be “calling the shots” from now on. And to reinforce his tyrannical tendencies, he insults the White House correspondent for the Associated Press in his familiar infantile fashion.
Elaborating on his malicious attack, Trump referred to his banning of the AP because they refused to bow down to his order to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico in their international editions, where he has no authority to change geographical names. He did not win any lawsuit on the matter. It is scheduled to be heard next month by a judge who appears to be leaning toward the view that Trump is in violation of the Constitution.
While Trump may be able to forbid honest journalists from asking him question in his Washington and Palm Beach bunkers, he cannot stop them from asking questions in their own reporting. However, he may find that the conspicuous absence of his lie-riddled answers will only make his autocracy-driven cowardice more obvious, and eventually, more injurious to his already rotten reputation.
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