Until now, US media have decided among themselves who in the pool of reporters will accompany the president on behalf of everyone else.

The White House Reporters Association is fighting back against the unprecedented interference of the administration of US President Donald Trump in the workings of independent media. "Our board will not support any attempt by this or any other administration to undermine independent reporting on the White House," wrote the chairman of the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA), Eugene Daniels of "Politico," in an email to the association's members. Each media outlet must now decide for itself whether it wants to submit to the new rules imposed by the Trump administration.

The independent association has previously had sovereignty over the composition of the so-called correspondent pool and determined which reporters would report on behalf of all accredited journalists when space was limited. The pool comprises a rotating selection of reporters who are on site - for example when space is limited on the presidential aircraft Air Force One - and pass on their information to all accredited journalists, including via email distribution.

On Tuesday, however, Trump's spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt announced a new line of government action: The White House would take control of this pool and determine who would be part of it. This was followed by harsh criticism that the president was obviously trying to replace journalists he did not like with media representatives who were sympathetic to him, thereby effectively undermining press freedom.

Daniels announced in his email that the pool reports should no longer be sent via the WHCA mailing list. Since the White House has control over the process, the association can no longer guarantee that the standards that have been proven for decades will continue to be adhered to. In doing so, the WHCA is temporarily interrupting what is perhaps the most important chain of communication for all those reporters who are not on site themselves and have to rely on reliable information from colleagues almost in real time.