As of August 1, Fred Lucas of The Daily Signal will lose what is called a “hard pass” that allows him on the White House grounds and gives him a rotating seat in the White House briefing room. That location is where current Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is seen reading notes to reporters about "saving democracy" and "extreme MAGA Republicans."
She also takes questions from them, and often regrets doing so, but the number of reporters raising their hands will soon dwindle.
“The White House, under the Biden administration,” Lucas tells AFN, “just recently imposed this new set of rules that's going to allow them to pick and choose who covers the White House.”
Much like American Family News is the media outlet for American Family Association, Daily Signal is the media outlet for The Heritage Foundation. That respected conservative think tank that has been a fixture in Washington, D.C. since the 1970s.
Lucas (pictured at right) has covered the White House for the Signal since 2009.
Under the new rules, however, announced in May, a White House news reporter must also be credentialed for a hard-to-obtain press pass in Congress or, worse, the 25-seat press gallery at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Not only are White House press passes hard to obtain, conservative news outlets such as The Daily Signal know so-called legacy media controls access through its liberal reporters and correspondents who lead the White House Correspondents Association. The current WHCA officers represent NBC News, CBS News, and Politico, which are not friendly to Republican politicians nor right-leaning news outlet such as Daily Signal that share their view.
The controversial new rules were discussed and agreed on by the WHCA and the Biden administration, The Daily Caller, a second right-leaning news outlet, reported in a May story.
In comments to his own employer, Lucas told the Signal there is "zero transparency" over how many journalists are losing their hard passes as of August 1.
“Moreover," he said, "the administration has never articulated a justification for purging media they deem non-compliant.”
Thanks to their biased and softball questions, left-wing news outlets are routinely accused of being mouthpieces for the Biden administration and the Democratic Party. Now, Lucas says, the few reporters who push back are being targeted by the White House and ignored by their liberal media colleagues.
“This is very likely a first step by the Biden administration,” he warns, “trying to winnow out what reporters are in there.”
