White House Press Access
🔴 Abuse of Power ·
Feb 2025, ongoing
Summary
The Trump administration systematically restructured government media access to replace independent journalism with a controlled pro-Trump information pipeline. In February 2025, the White House stripped the White House Correspondents’ Association of its century-old role determining press pool rotation, giving the administration itself the power to choose which outlets accompany the president. At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Hegseth removed eight credentialed news organizations from permanent work stations, including NPR and the AP, and replaced them with seven conservative and right-wing outlets. Hegseth traveled to Guantanamo Bay with former Fox News colleague Laura Ingraham instead of the press corps. New Pentagon rules required reporters to agree not to ‘obtain or use unauthorized material’ even if unclassified, rules that virtually every major news organization, including Fox News, refused to accept. Voice of America offices were closed and broadcasts went off-air after USAGM appointees accused the taxpayer-funded network of ‘parroting adversaries’ propaganda.’ PBS described the strategy: ‘The Trump White House wants to have a parallel media, a propagandistic, pro-Trump media.’ Project 2025 had explicitly outlined each of these steps, including defanging the WHCA, in its published blueprint.
Key Figures
Institutions Involved
Sources
- Trump White House seeks tighter grip on message with new limits on press
- White House says it will decide which news organizations routinely cover the president
- Here’s how many of Project 2025’s media proposals were implemented in 2025