TLDR:
- Trump’s second-term communications team learned from first-term “hostility” and now operates by its own rules, wresting control from the White House Correspondents’ Association
- White House launched “media offenders” website to publicly shame journalists and outlets deemed biased or inaccurate
- Reporters now must make appointments to speak with senior press officials; face public reprimands from press secretary or president himself
- Nearly 500 new press passes issued to podcasters and alternative outlets; AP lost special access after refusing “Gulf of America” name
President Trump’s communications team entered his second term with a battle plan shaped by hard lessons from 2017: Stop playing by the legacy media’s rules.
The White House wrestled control of press pool assignments away from the White House Correspondents’ Association, becoming the sole arbiter of which outlets cover presidential events and travel. The administration also launched a “media offenders” website to spotlight what it considers biased or inaccurate reporting.
“I don’t think we had any indication of the level of hostility the legacy media was approaching,” said Sean Spicer, Mr. Trump’s first press secretary. “This time, clearly, he has the ability to see everything through the lens of how things went the first term.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the team now aggressively pushes back against unfavorable coverage. Reporters must schedule appointments with senior press officials, and face public reprimands when challenging White House statements.
The Associated Press lost its special access to White House events after refusing to adopt Mr. Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico. The Wall Street Journal was restricted from the press pool after publishing stories about Mr. Trump’s relationship with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Read more:
• How the White House drew a new battle plan to take on the Washington press corps
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The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at aispotlight@washingtontimes.com.
