Trump Refashions The Working Of White House Media Room To The Ire Of Correspondents

By Sushil Kutty

The novelty of Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary, is wearing off. For no fault of the White House Correspondents’ Corps which hangs on to Leavitt’s every word and the odd Leavitt gesture. But with time running its scam, too many White House correspondents are beginning to slot Leavitt in President Donald Trump’s authoritarian block. Karoline Leavitt passes edicts in line with President Trump’s executive orders and there is nothing Buddhist about Leavitt’s edicts.

It is also frustrating, to say the least, because there is no one above Leavitt to appeal to. In the latest, the White House has taken aim at wire outlets wanting to at the “spot”. Leavitt’s office has done away with the “spot” reserved for wire services. Now, it is a lottery and no surety whether a particular wire service remains in the press pool covering President Donald Trump on a particular day or not.

A Leavitt edict? It must be President Trump operating through his Press Secretary. It’s not that the President’s daily activities are left uncovered. The coverage continues but not by every Tom, Dick and Harry. One day it could be Dick, another day Tom and on a third day back to Dick. Harry? Harry will have to wait his turn. Patience is a virtue and every dog has his day.

That said, President Trump without publicity and visibility is no President Trump at all. Karoline Leavitt is the guardrail between Trump and the White House Press Pool. For some reason, though, the wire services appear to be more out of favour, believed to be because of the “original sin” committed by the Associated Press or the ‘AP’ as it is more commonly referred to.

The problem is there is a vast difference between Trump 1:0 and Trump 2:0 and the yawning gap is only increasing even as President Trump goes about issuing executive order after executive order to run his American diktats, supposed to be democratic but more like my way or the highway. President Trump is now a certified executive order addict and Leavitt is his dispenser in the White House Press Room!

Karoline Leavitt is said to be the youngest Press Secretary in White House history and she took to the job like fish to water, pleasing none but with the potential to displease one and all. Doing away with the permanent spot reserved for wire services seems to have satisfied Leavitt the most. The Trump-sprung “change” has altered the composition of the White House Press pool beyond recognition.

What’s behind Trump’s many shenanigans including letting loose Karoline Leavitt on the unsuspecting media? It does not need Michelle Obama to answer the question. Even current FLOTUS Melania Trump will not recognize the White House Press Room if she strayed into it by accident. The changes to the press pool are stark and drastic.

From Tuesday on, there was one print journalist serving as the “print pooler” for each passing day. There was one additional print journalist. Then, there was a crew from one of the major television networks. There was another crew from a secondary television network or streaming service. There was a radio journalist and there was one “new media” or independent journalist. Last: four photojournalists.

A White House official said eligible outlets were to be chosen on a rotating basis and Karoline Leavitt drew the line and the right to determine the white House press pool’s composition. Wire-based outlets will not be treated differently or favourably. They’ll be part of the pool’s daily print-journalist rotation.

The shake-up is on a take it or leave it basis. There is no permanent slot for Wire services. Outlets will be chosen “irrespective of the substantive viewpoint expressed by an outlet.” The press pool used to be determined by the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) until “the West Wing” jumped in and broke the dream.

Now it’s a nightmare and the latest overhaul comes on the heels of a federal judge ordering the Trump administration to “restore The Associated Press’s access to key White House spaces” which the Trump administration had blocked specifically for the AP for its refusal to use “Gulf of America” in its stylebook instead of “Gulf of Mexico”, a fact which did not register with the 47th President of the United States.

Just for the record, the AP hasn’t figured in the press pool after the judge’s order went into effect. When it’s the Trump administration, retribution is instant. Outlets such as Bloomberg and Reuters used to fill the earmarked wire service slot. They too will now be subject to Leavitt’s lottery!

The AP had sued the White House in March following denial of access to White House and Oval Office press briefings. The AP argued that access to the press pool was “essential to its journalism”. Two top AP journalists testified in court and informed the court about the damage done to AP by the exclusion.

One AP journalist said journalism for AP reporters was “360” and “you’ve got to be there”, meaning on the spot, in the White House for Leavitt’s press briefing and in the Oval Office if President Trump addressed the media. Not surprisingly, AP has found support from tons of journalists who have “voiced solidarity with the wire services” as news broke of the new rules.

“Wire reporters are among the most knowledgeable and dedicated to the White House beat,” said a top White House correspondent in an ‘X’ post that has been widely forwarded. “They are on duty every day of the year and anywhere in the world needed to cover a president. Their work is a key building block for other media’s work. Wires fill a critical role in the public’s understanding of government and important events.”

But it is a war out there! Sections of the judiciary have also joined the war , especially because judges in the United States are not chosen by a “collegium” like in India but by ideologically-driven Presidents. There are Obama-appointed judges and there are Clinton-appointed judges, as well as a “Bush-appointed” judge, all of them quite willing to screw President Trump’s executive orders out of existence.

For this and other reasons of ego, Karoline Leavitt is more than just a mere Press Secretary like the one before her, and the one before the second “her”. Karoline Leavitt carries a big stick and is the perfect person to stamp Trump’s edicts on the conscience of the powerful national and international media covering President Donald Trump’s daily doings. Bottom-line: Which media will want to be shut away from keeping up with Trump’s tariff War? (IPA Service)