White House reporter talks about Trump banning MS Now, Politico,

Naomi Lim called President Trump’s media shakeup a “shoot from the hip” announcement. She may be right about the timing. But she also admitted something telling: it was “really lovely” being in that press pool. Those two statements sit together awkwardly, and the awkwardness is the whole story.

The White House press corps has spent decades treating its access as a birthright. The nerve center of the executive branch was never meant to be an alumni club for a handful of D.C. outlets who rotate through and pat each other on the back. When Trump pulls the credential of a legacy operation like Politico or MS Now, the reaction is predictable. Outrage, tears, and a parade of colleagues defending the institution of "access journalism." The institution was never the point. The access was. There is a difference between covering the presidency and being a permanent fixture inside it.

Trump's approach is not subtle. It is disruptive, messy, and occasionally vindictive. That is the style his voters signed up for. But beneath the rough edges is a legitimate question the press refuses to answer: why do certain outlets get a front-row seat to power while others are locked out? The old media cartel is dissolving, and the White House is just the last place holding on to the old rules. Press freedom was never a guarantee of press privilege. It is a guarantee that the government can't throw you in jail for writing something critical. It is not a guarantee that a wealthy newsroom gets a free desk in the West Wing.

Lim’s honest nostalgia for the pool is understandable. It is a unique vantage point. But the whining from the rest of the press corps is pure self-pity. For years, these outlets used the briefing room to grandstand and lecture the country. Now they are learning that the audience is gone and the host can change the seating chart. The president is not the employee of the press. It's the other way around. And that simple, stubborn fact is something the "lovely" press pool is just now starting to process.