The White House on Wednesday restricted access to President Donald Trump’s first cabinet meeting, barring journalists from Reuters and other major news outlets as part of a newly implemented media policy.

Among those denied entry were an Associated Press (AP) photographer, and reporters from Reuters, HuffPost, and the German publication Der Tagesspiegel. However, media representatives from ABC, Newsmax, Axios, The Blaze, Bloomberg News, and NPR were allowed to attend and cover the meeting.

A day earlier, the Trump administration had announced that the White House would control which news organizations could report from smaller venues like the Oval Office, a shift from the traditional system managed by the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA). Reuters, a longstanding member of the presidential press pool, was among those affected by this change.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified that mainstream media outlets would still have daily access to the president, but that the administration intended to reassess which reporters could cover events in limited-space settings. The existing pool system, previously overseen by the WHCA, allowed a selected group of TV, radio, wire, print, and photojournalists to gather information and share their reports with the wider press community.

Following the policy change, AP, Bloomberg, and Reuters—three wire services traditionally holding permanent positions in the press pool—issued a joint statement. They emphasized their role in ensuring accurate, impartial, and timely reporting on the presidency, which reaches audiences of all political views both in the U.S. and internationally. The statement underscored the importance of an independent press in a democracy, asserting that public access to government affairs must remain unrestricted.

HuffPost criticized the decision, describing it as an infringement on First Amendment rights that protect freedom of the press. Der Tagesspiegel did not provide an immediate response to the development.

The WHCA also voiced its opposition to the new White House media restrictions, releasing a statement on Tuesday expressing concern over the administration’s decision.

This move follows an earlier action by the Trump administration, which excluded the Associated Press from the press pool after the organization refused to adopt the term "Gulf of America"—a name President Trump assigned to the Gulf of Mexico. The AP declined to update its widely used stylebook to reflect this change.

Leavitt reassured that the five major television networks would continue to rotate in the press pool while new streaming services would be included. Additionally, the system of rotating print and radio reporters would remain in place, with certain new outlets and radio personalities being added to the mix.