Correspondents' Association pushes back on rumors of White House briefing room shake-up
The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is pushing back on reports of a potential shake-up coming to the West Wing briefing room and vowing to fight the Trump administration's efforts to take greater control of the media covering his second term.
The WHCA board said Monday it was "aware" of reports the White House is considering taking over the briefing room seat assignments.
"The White House should abandon this wrong-headed effort and show the American people they’re not afraid to explain their policies and field questions from an independent media free from government control," the WHCA said.
The report, published by Axios over the weekend, suggested the White House could soon change who sits where in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, decisions typically made by the WHCA.
It also cited an anonymous source who suggested White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt could be implemented as WHCA president as a way "to de-escalate" tensions between reporters covering President Trump and the White House.
"The most obvious end result of this reported plan is the punishment, not elevation, of journalists," the WHCA said in its statement. "We’ll also add the notion of having the White House press secretary preside over an independent organization of journalists who are negotiating access with the administration is ridiculous. No board member or official representative of the WHCA has ever put forward such a non-starter suggestion."
The rumors come just weeks after the administration took control of the White House press pool, a smaller group of reporters allowed in key West Wing spaces, with Trump seeking to include more independent and "new media" outlets in the body.
The White House has also banned The Associated Press from the press pool over its refusal to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, a move the wire service has sued the administration over.
"The White House picked this fight and continues to do so," the WHCA said. "Our members want to cover the administration without fear or favor, and stand ready to question government officials from any corner of the Brady Briefing Room."