White Home restricts journalist entry to space housing communications workplaces

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The White Home introduced on Friday that journalists would now not be approved to freely entry an space of the West Wing that's residence to workplaces for varied senior communications officers, together with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt .

In a memorandum, the Nationwide Safety Council mentioned journalists are prohibited from accessing Room 140, also called "Higher Press," which is positioned close to the Oval Workplace, with out an appointment, claiming that the transfer is required to protect probably delicate supplies and defend nationwide safety.

"In an effort to defend such materials, and preserve coordination between Nationwide Safety Council Employees and White Home Communications Employees, members of the press are now not permitted to entry Room 140 with out prior approval within the type of an appointment with a certified White Home Employees Member," the memo mentioned.

Credentialed White Home journalists may beforehand entry Room 140 on quick discover to talk with senior officers. Journalists should entry one other space the place lower-level White Home communications employees have desks, the memo mentioned.

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The White Home introduced that journalists would now not be approved to freely entry an space of the West Wing that's residence to workplaces for senior communications officers. (Related Press)

The White Home Correspondents’ Affiliation argued that the brand new restrictions would impression reporters' capacity to query officers, guarantee transparency and maintain the federal government to account.

"The White Home Correspondents' Affiliation unequivocally opposes any effort to restrict journalists from areas inside the communications operations of the White Home which have lengthy been open for newsgathering, together with the press secretary’s workplace," CBS Information White Home reporter Weijia Jiang, the present president of the group, mentioned in an announcement.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung mentioned on Friday that reporters had been caught secretly recording video and audio in workplaces and wandering into restricted areas.

"Some reporters have been caught secretly recording video and audio of our workplaces, together with footage of delicate data, with out permission," he wrote on X. "Some reporters have wandered into restricted areas … Some reporters have been caught eavesdropping on personal, closed-door conferences. Cupboard Secretaries routinely come into our workplace for personal conferences, solely to be ambushed by reporters ready exterior our doorways."

<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/07/672/378/donald-trump-karoline-leavitt-white-house-july-15-2025.png?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/07/1344/756/donald-trump-karoline-leavitt-white-house-july-15-2025.png?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="378" width="672"><source media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/07/931/523/donald-trump-karoline-leavitt-white-house-july-15-2025.png?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/07/1862/1046/donald-trump-karoline-leavitt-white-house-july-15-2025.png?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="523" width="931"> The Nationwide Safety Council mentioned journalists are prohibited from accessing Room 140, also called "Higher Press." (AP)

The Clinton administration introduced an identical transfer in 1993 to limit press entry to Room 140, nevertheless it was later rescinded following fierce backlash.

This comes after the Pentagon recently announced a new policy through which information retailers should conform to new press restrictions or lose their media credentials and Pentagon workspaces.

The coverage requires journalists to pledge to the brand new guidelines, together with that they may very well be deemed safety dangers and have their Pentagon press badges revoked in the event that they ask workers to reveal info that has not been launched by the division, even when the knowledge is unclassified.

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White Home Communications Director Steven Cheung purported that reporters had been caught secretly recording video and audio in workplaces and wandering into restricted areas. (Bing Guan/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photos)

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No less than 30 information retailers, together with Fox Information, refused to conform to the Pentagon media restrictions , asserting that the coverage represents a risk to press freedom and hinders their capacity to conduct impartial newsgathering.

Moreover, the Trump administration earlier this yr eliminated Reuters, The Related Press and Bloomberg Information from the everlasting "pool" of reporters protecting the president, though these retailers should be included on a sporadic foundation.