U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to restore the Associated Press’s access to the White House.
“No, the Court simply holds that under the First Amendment, if the Government opens its doors to some journalists—be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere—it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints. The Constitution requires no less,” wrote McFadden.
The White House banned the AP from the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other spots because it would not change the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in its stylebook.
The AP sued three people in the administration: Susan Wiles, chief of staff, Taylor Budowich, deputy chief of staff, and Karoline Leavitt, press secretary.
McFaddon noted:
Indeed, it has continued to admit outlets to the pool such as the New York Times, that “have been highly critical of the President and have continued to refer to the former name.” In fact, all members of the original press pool have continued to use the Gulf of Mexico name while noting President Trump’s order.So why has the AP alone been penalized? The AP claims, and the Court now finds, that the Government has singled out the AP because of its refusal to update the Gulf’s name in its Stylebook, an influential writing and editing guid. eOn February 11, shortly after the AP refused to rename the Gulf, [Press Secretary Karoline] Leavitt summoned AP Chief White House Correspondent Zeke Miller to her office. “She told [Miller] that, at President Trump’s direction, the AP would no longer be permitted in the Oval Office as part of the press pool until and unless the AP revised its Stylebook” to use Gulf of America instead.
McFadden pointed out how the AP has “had two permanent spots—one print reporter and one photographer—for over a century” in the press pool.
*rolls eyes* Who cares?
Now, McFadden has a legitimate point here: “Local news outlets are particularly reliant on wire services for news from Washington, D.C.”
If you read your local news online you will more than likely see reproductions of AP reports.
However, those briefings and events are usually on TV. They can report on them like us normies do. I’m able to report on press briefings and everything else from my comfortable couch in my pajamas.
McFadden is apparently mad that Trump wants to give new media more attention:
But during this litigation, press pool procedures abruptly changed. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on February 25 that the Government—not the WHCA—would now choose which hard pass holders gained access to the press pool. She said that the Government wanted to promote“new media” that “historically” “have long been denied the privilege” of participating in the pool. According to the AP, the practical result has been that the newly arranged press pool trades out one wire service seat and one photography seat for two “new media” seats, leaving one rotating wire service seat. The White House has permitted a second wire service reporter at some pool events—just not the AP. In fact, during the pendency of this litigation, one or both of the other two wire services have always obtained a press pool slot. The WHCA continues to assign, “at the White House’s discretion,” the seats in the Brady Briefing Room. In short, new media has benefitted at AP’s expense under the new management. Little else has changed.
Cry me a river.
Oh, no. Not being in the rooms means “the AP’s reporting quality suffered.”
“The foreign correspondent did not transmit photos and text updates live, so the AP had to wait for the long meeting to conclude before issuing photography, ’40 minutes behind’ competitors,” added McFadden. “More, because the foreign correspondent specialized in video rather than photography, he did not produce images that conformed to the usual AP standards.”
OK, but we managed to get AFP, Reuters, and Getty images just fine. We also got the AFP and Reuters write-ups quickly.
Did McFadden read anything he wrote? I could use his argument to fight for a press pass and attend all these briefings and events.
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