![]() The slope could become even more slippery if extremist or racist organizations sought similar status. These groups could argue that they, too, qualify for White House press credentials and pool shifts. The Daily Signal’s inclusion in the pool could set a precedent for other advocacy organizations, such as the liberal Center for American Progress, that have expanded into newsgathering. Jeff Mason, the WHCA’s president, said his group would review the criteria for selecting members of the “supplemental” pool - the group of reporters who can supplement the regular pool when needed - but he declined to say whether the Daily Signal’s recent participation prompted the move. The White House Correspondents’ Association, an organization of journalists, assembles the pool, so it was responsible for putting Lucas in the rotation. The White House press office provides credentials to reporters. “In a perfect world, only news organizations with editorial independence and proven track records of reliability should be able to provide pool reports for the White House or any other government agency or official.” “The short answer is that it’s concerning that news organizations with a clear and stated bias are serving as the eyes and ears of the White House press corps, regardless of their political leaning,” said Andrew Seaman, a Reuters reporter who is chair of the Society of Professional Journalists’ ethics committee. While there were no objections to Lucas’s pool reports on Pence, some journalists suggested the presence of the Signal as a member of the pool crossed a symbolic line, into greater legitimacy for the partisan press. The Signal covers issues that are a focus of Heritage’s conservative agenda, such as an Obamacare repeal, tax policy and illegal immigration. Lucas writes for the Daily Signal, a news and commentary site started nearly three years ago by Heritage, one of Washington’s leading policy shops. Lucas also covered Pence as the pooler two weeks ago. The development is unusual the reporter, Fred Lucas, is the first member of his organization to take on pool reporting duties, which are typically handled on a rotating basis by mainstream news organizations. ![]() In other words, the news that reporters received about the vice president came from a journalist employed by an organization with a vested interest in the direction of White House and federal policy. ![]() In an age of partisan media, the lines between “partisan” and “media” can sometimes blur.Ĭase in point: The pool reporter covering Vice President Pence on Thursday - that is, the reporter who supplied details about Pence’s daily activities as proxy for the rest of the press corps - was an employee of the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank.
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