On 'White House Chronicle,' Deans Defends Independent Coverage of White House, Explains the Press Pool

A former White House Correspondents' Association president explains why it matters that the White House has seized control of the press pool.

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, March 9, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A former president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, Bob Deans, lays out with clarity the role of that organization in the fair coverage of the president on “White House Chronicle,” the weekly news and public affairs television program.

Llewellyn King, executive producer and host of “White House Chronicle,” said of the Deans interview, “In all my decades of covering Washington, I have never heard the role of the media or the operation of the press pool better described.

“Bob brings the same clarity to his thoughts about journalism as he did when he was the Washington White House correspondent for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.”

King said he had heard many discussions of the Trump administration's attempts to convert the press corps from objectivity to cheering section, but none as succinct as Deans' explanation on “White House Chronicle,” one of the longest-running programs on television. It first aired in 1997.

“The pool is basically a proxy for public participation in trying to find out what the president is doing or not doing on behalf of the people of this country.
Let's remember, most of what a president does the public never sees. There's this illusion of transparency when we see his picture on television every night. But the reality is that that is an illusion,” Deans told King and Co-host Adam Clayton Powell III on the broadcast.

Deans explained that the White House press corps may have 100 people, and they can’t all go to an Oval Office or some other meeting. "So the small group that goes there …. as proxies for those people across the country, who care deeply about the presidency and will never have a chance to ask the president a question …. asks the president questions, bears witness to what is going on, and then communicates that information to the broader public. It's a big responsibility when you look at it that way.”

Of the White House's decision that it should select the members of the press pool rather than the White House Correspondents’ Association, which has been doing so since President Eisenhower’s time, Deans said, “It comes down to this: Does the press serve the public or does it serve the White House?

“That question was asked and answered in 1791 when we, as a new nation, ratified the First Amendment, protecting freedom of the press.”

During the broadcast, Deans noted that The Associated Press has been barred from the pool because it adheres to calling the Gulf of Mexico by that name, not by the Gulf of America, mandated by President Trump in an executive order.

Deans said, “The Associated Press is no TASS [Russia's state-owned news agency] or Xinhua [China’s state-owned news agency]. It exists to serve the public.
An attack on The Associated Press or any other independent news media is really an attack on our right to know — our foundational, constitutionally protected right to know what a president is doing or failing to do on our behalf.”

King pointed out that Trump has made his political career by attacking the press. “He has been a great advocate of deriding the press, naming it the slime media instead of mainstream media,” he said. “This has apparently been very effective.”

He added, “We never thought the press was greatly loved, but we needed it. It's essential to democracy. Nothing works without it. It is an appellate court in its own way.”

Deans left journalism to join the Natural Resources Defense Council, where he is an executive. He is also the author of a number of books.

“White House Chronicle” can be seen nationwide on a variety of PBS and public, educational and government cable access channels. It can be heard four times on weekends on SiriusXM Radio’s P.O.T.U.S., Channel 124. All episodes and King's syndicated weekly columns are available on the program's website.

Llewellyn King
White House Media LLC
+1 202-441-2702
llewellynking1@gmail.com
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