The White House has said it will now control which news organisations and reporters are allowed into the presidential pool covering Donald Trump and his administration.
In a briefing on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “The White House press team in this administration will determine who gets to enjoy the very privileged and limited access in spaces such as Air Force One and the Oval Office.”
The announcement comes the day after Trump won a temporary ruling allowing the Associated Press (AP) to be barred from both Air Force One and the Oval Office.
This was after the outlet resisted the president’s demand to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
AP had said it would continue to call the gulf by its long-established name after Trump signed an executive order to rename it.
The White House promptly banned AP journalists from accessing the Oval Office and Air Force One as retaliation accusing it of “irresponsible and dishonest reporting.”
Trump-appointed US district judge Trevor McFadden denied a request by AP on Monday to restore its access. The organisation had argued the decision to bar its reporters from the Oval Office, Air Force One and White House events violated the US constitution’s first amendment protections against government abridgment of speech.
Previously, journalists given access to the president in smaller settings was decided on a rotational basis by the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), an independent association made up of members of the media.
Leavitt said the WHCA “should no longer have a monopoly” of press access at the White House and that “legacy media outlets who have been here for years will still participate in the pool, but new voices are going to be welcomed in as well.”
In a statement, the WHCA condemned judge McFadden’s decision, saying it “tears at the independence of a free press in the United States.”
The organisation’s president, Eugene Daniels, said: “It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.
“For generations, the working journalists elected to lead the White House Correspondents’ Association board have consistently expanded the WHCA’s membership and its pool rotations to facilitate the inclusion of new and emerging outlets.”
Related: Government TVs hacked to show video of Donald Trump kissing Elon Musk’s feet