Overview

• The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) condemned the exclusion of wire service reporters from President Trump’s Air Force One travel to the Middle East, calling it unprecedented and harmful to public access to information.
• This marks the first time in modern history that wire services like the Associated Press, Reuters, and Bloomberg have been excluded from the press pool on an international presidential trip.
• The exclusion follows ongoing tensions between the Trump administration and wire services, including a legal battle over AP’s refusal to adopt the administration’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
• The White House instituted a new rotational press pool policy earlier this year, removing guaranteed slots for wire services and asserting it expands access by including a broader range of outlets.
• Critics, including WHCA leadership, argue the move undermines transparency and limits timely, independent reporting relied upon by millions of Americans and global audiences.