Following a recent legal setback concerning The Associated Press' access to the presidency, the White House on Tuesday unveiled a revised media policy significantly limiting news agencies' access to Donald Trump, impacting media outlets globally. This marked the latest effort by the nascent administration to manage its public image.

This action would stop the AP and other news agencies that reach billions of readers through thousands of news outlets. This follows a judge's decision that the White House had broken the organization's free speech rights by banning it because it disagreed with the outlet's choice not to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico.

At the same time as they explained a new plan for "pool coverage" in small places like the Oval Office and Air Force One, the White House also said that press secretary Karoline Leavitt will finally decide who can ask her boss questions, according to people who have seen the plan.

The White House offered no immediate response to inquiries for comment late Tuesday.

A federal judge recently determined that the White House had inappropriately penalized the Associated Press for its refusal to rename the Gulf of Mexico by denying its journalists and photographers access to events. U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden mandated that the administration afford the AP the same treatment as other news organizations.

The White House continued to ban the Associated Press even after McFadden's ruling. This happened when Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele met with reporters. The next day, the White House shared a new policy with only some journalists.

The White House Correspondents Association has long managed the press pool for events with restricted access, consistently incorporating reporters from the wire services AP, Reuters, and Bloomberg. Additionally, a single print reporter was granted entry, chosen on a rotational basis from a pool exceeding 30 news organizations.

The White House has announced it will combine the three wire services with print reporters for two slots, meaning approximately thirty-six reporters will rotate for two regular slots. Wire services typically report and write stories that are disseminated in numerous locations nationwide and globally.

Despite the rotation, the White House stated that Trump's press secretary would maintain ongoing authority to decide the pool's membership, and the revised policy stipulates that journalists will be permitted entry regardless of the outlet's expressed opinions.

In a statement, the AP's Lauren Easton expressed profound disappointment that the White House, instead of reinstating the AP's access, opted for restrictions affecting all wire services.

Easton, an Associated Press spokesperson, stated that wire services serve as intermediaries for countless news outlets throughout the United States and globally.

Easton said Tuesday night that the administration's actions continue to ignore the basic American freedom to speak without the government controlling or punishing people.

The independent White House Correspondents' Association said the administration's insistence on choosing who reports on the president shows they are not willing to promise they will not continue to discriminate based on people's views.

"The government should not have the authority to regulate the independent media outlets reporting on its activities," stated Eugene Daniels, president of the association.

Under Leavitt, the White House has afforded enhanced access to news outlets aligned with Trump. This was evident on Tuesday when the initial reporter Leavitt addressed during a briefing posed two questions while simultaneously commending Trump's policy.

During the Oval Office meeting on Monday, Trump reacted defensively to questions from CNN's Kaitlan Collins regarding a man deported to a prison in El Salvador, at one juncture alleging CNN "hated our country." He deliberately highlighted the difference between her pointed questions and a more neutral query from another journalist.

Even with some disagreements, Trump has let the media get closer to him than the president before him, former President Joe Biden. He really likes talking in small places, especially the Oval Office. This makes the new rule about access even more important.

The new rule from Tuesday didn't talk about how photographers could get in. Before that, in a court meeting about the AP's situation, their main White House photographer, Evan Vucci, and writer Zeke Miller, said how the ban has harmed a news group that is made to quickly give news and pictures to people who use them.

The argument started because AP decided not to follow the president's order to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico, even though AP style does mention that Trump wants it called the Gulf of America. McFadden agreed with AP's point that the government cannot punish the news group for what it says – for using its right to speak freely.

The White House has said that journalists getting to see the president is a special permission, not a basic right, and they should decide who gets it, just like they choose who Trump talks to alone. In court papers from last weekend, his lawyers suggested that even with McFadden's decision, the AP would no longer have easy access to public presidential events.

The administration said that no other news group in the United States gets the same guaranteed access as the AP used to. They argued that the AP might be used to being treated specially, but the Constitution doesn't say this special treatment has to last forever.

The administration has challenged McFadden's decision and is going to an appeals court on Thursday to argue that the decision should be stopped until the main points of the case are completely decided, maybe by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Over the past two months, the administration has not restricted the Associated Press's access to Leavitt's briefings, although it had previously prevented credentialed AP reporters from attending East Room events until Tuesday, when a reporter was permitted entry to an event featuring the Navy football team.