WHCA Cartel Is Freaking Out Because It’s Losing Power And Control, Not Press Freedom:
The media pearl-clutch about a ‘free press’ when they really mean their power and control are threatened.
During all the meltdowns about Donald Trump’s election being a “threat to democracy,” someone observantly noted that all the panic made sense once you replaced the word “democracy” with “bureaucracy.” Now, as D.C. journo types panic about the threat to a “free press” posed by Trump’s breakup of the White House Correspondents’ Association monopoly, replacing “free press” with “corporate media’s control of news narratives” provides similar clarity.
On Tuesday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the White House would have the final say on which reporters have access to President Trump in the “most intimate spaces” such as the Oval Office as part of the 13-member press pool. Gatekeeping this access was previously the purview of the group of “D.C.-based journalists” who make up the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA).
“Legacy media outlets,” including “the five major television networks,” would still be included in the rotation, Leavitt clarified, but so would outlets that have “long been denied the privilege” of close access to the president.
In response, the WHCA — led by the manicured (and often, for some reason, caped) Eugene Daniels of Politico — released a four-paragraph statement claiming the decision “tears at the independence of a free press in the United States.”
Other members of the corporate press quickly joined in to share similar talking points about the “free press.”
The editors of the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, and Reuters co-wrote a statement noting “an independent, free press” is “essential in a democracy,” and declaring that such a “principle” would be “threaten[ed]” by any limitation of the AP’s, Bloomberg’s, or Reuters’ special White House access. Former WHCA President Kelly O’Donnell of NBC News urged readers to “Show your support for a free press.” Axios CEO Jim VandeHei warned “Trump is setting a new precedent for tight, punitive government control over a free press.”
The New York Times, in a story about the change, quoted its own spokesman to call the change “an effort to undermine the public’s access to independent, trustworthy information.” The paper’s chief White House correspondent said the move reminded him of Putin. --->READ MORE HERE
Eugene Daniels Encapsulates All The Reasons The WHCA Deserves To Burn Down In Flames
This has nothing to do with the ‘free press’ and everything to do with the Washington media, so arrogant as to have someone like Eugene Daniels as its mascot, dying a slow death.
I’d ask the Washington press corps if they have any idea how ridiculous they look right now, but then I remember that the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) is currently led by Eugene Daniels.
Trump administration spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt announced this week that the White House would take over responsibility for determining what rotating crew of reporters would cover the president on site and in person, something that was previously controlled by the WHCA. As with every announcement from this administration, it was greeted by Washington with octane-infused hysteria, especially and predictably by area journalists still under the impression that they run things.
The WHCA’s statement on the matter was good fun. “This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States,” wrote Eugene Daniels, perhaps with a set of freshly painted nails of a coral hue. “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.”
It’s impossible to take this seriously. Not just because Daniels routinely appears in public wearing kinky costumes and soliciting advice on how to use women’s cosmetic products. And not because he makes a point whenever on cable news of holding his hands near his chest so as to visually assault viewers with whatever startling shade he’s colored his fingernails.
While we’re on the subject, though, Daniels and his public presentation are critical to this issue. He’s not built like some lithe ballet dancer; he’s a hulking figure with an afro and beard. Yet he appeared at last year’s annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner event wearing a seizure-inducing sash — yes, I said sash — draped over his shoulder like something out of a drag queen rendition of Star Wars. His social media activity is practically designed to make you say, This guy can’t be for real. “Dear Black women, please help!” Daniels wrote on X in 2022. “I’m looking for a new bonnet to sleep in. Gotta stay on all night and not give me a headache lol.”
This is who the media’s most prestigious organization in Washington chose to represent their interests. It’s as if they’re daring anyone to step to them with reservation. They’re dying to call you a racist homophobe for it.
Daniels was named WHCA president in mid-July 2024, just as Kamala Harris was becoming the de facto Democrat presidential nominee, a curious coincidence given that Daniels had spent the last three years as Team Kamala’s go-to propagandist for virtually everything intended to put Harris in a positive light (which Daniels would dutifully publish in Politico). The media news publication Poynter dubbed Daniels “Politico’s Kamala Harris expert.” I doubt he felt a flicker of embarrassment. --->READ MORE HERE
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