White House Trump Press Poo
AxiosFEB 24
White House Says It Will Manage Press Pool
Above: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Image copyright: Alex Wong/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Spin
Pro-Trump narrative
It's time for the White House press operation to be modernized to reflect current media habits and give more diverse outlets access to presidential coverage. Legacy media elites should not monopolize access to the president, and this change returns power to the American people by ensuring broader representation in the press pool.
Anti-Trump narrative
This unprecedented move threatens the freedom of the press and once again reflects Trump's thin skin. Rather than borrow his predecessors' approach and ignore media outlets he doesn't like, Trump, who in the past has sued media outlets over coverage he found objectionable, has decided to dictate what the coverage of him looks like.