Ex-press secretary compares Trump's press pool takeover to state-run media
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Then-White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during a briefing at the White House on Jan. 10. Photo: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre denounced the Trump administration's takeover of the White House press pool on Tuesday.
The big picture: Her comments come as President Trump targets traditional media, putting transparent coverage of the government in jeopardy as Americans' trust in the press dips to an all-time low.
Driving the news: Jean-Pierre said Tuesday on ABC's "The View" that the job of the press pool is to provide unbiased information to the American people.
- "When the White House press team decides to step in and override the White House Correspondents Association … then what we're looking at is state TV," she said. "What we're looking at is what Russia is doing. What we're looking at is what North Korea is doing."
- She added: "They are attacking the fiber of the freedom of the press. They are destroying it because they want to be covered in a friendly way."
Zoom out: In small and unprecedented ways, Trump is punishing media companies more than any leader since the founding of the U.S., Axios' Sara Fischer reports.
- Once considered a bastion for free expression, America's record on press freedoms has dipped to a historic low, according to Reporters Without Borders. Under Trump's second presidency, the press is "under siege," the group argues.
- There are broader efforts by his administration and a GOP-led Congress to target media companies, including through Congressional and FCC probes and lawsuits, which could drain media companies of precious time and resources.
Context: The Trump administration banned the AP, a traditional fixture in the Oval Office and on Air Force One, over the wire service's decision to use "Gulf of Mexico" instead of "Gulf of America."
- The AP sued White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and other top officials in response.
- The Trump administration then announced that for the first time in a century, the White House — not the independent White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) — would determine which news outlets are part of the press pool.
- The White House claimed in a court filing that news organizations' access to the president is not "a constitutional right."
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