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CEO Keisha Lee credited the actions of state legislators and sponsors who stepped up to make sure the show can go on.

In late 2020, Massachusetts lawmakers (with overwhelming public support) passed an expansion of the state’s “right to repair” law. The original law was the first in the nation to be passed in 2013. The update dramatically improved it, requiring that all new vehicles be accessible via a standardized, transparent platform that allows owners and third-party repair shops […]

Faith leaders from St. Louis joined the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis and area police chiefs in an important meeting on Thursday night, aimed at strengthening neighborhood partnerships and reducing violence.

Taci Hodge’s work trip to St. Louis got off to a rough start Sunday evening.

A St. Louis County woman tried to save her pet, but it was too late. Now, the other dog is back in their community.

An alarming police officer assault case has one family reliving their past encounter with the same officer.

A person was shot at the Phillips 66 in Bridgeton after 6 p.m. Thursday. 

The first of six new buildings has opened at St. Louis Community College, the result of voter approval of Proposition R in 2021.

The only passenger in the vehicle who was wearing a seat belt suffered only minor injuries in a crash late Wednesday in Washington, Missouri.

Much has been said about the blatant unconstitutionality of the Trump administration’s retaliation against The Associated Press and White House Correspondents’ Association. It’s un-American for presidents to claim the right to put words in journalists’ mouths, and a press pool that is handpicked by the government is by definition not a free press.

But the egregiousness of Trump’s power play has taken attention away from its practical implications. Specifically, the exclusion of the AP and Reuters — two of the three wire services previously included in the White House press pool — is guaranteed to harm local news outlets nationwide and the Americans who rely on them to stay informed. Outlets that serve Trump supporters won’t be exempt from the consequences.

To unpack the recent changes and discuss the impact of Trump’s recent antics, the deputy director of audience for Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), Ahmed Zidan, sat down on Feb. 26 with Kirstin McCudden, the managing editor of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a project of FPF. McCudden knows the importance of wire services to the media ecosystem firsthand from her career working for local papers all over the United States.

Can you get us up to speed? What’s going on?

During a briefing on Feb. 25, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that the Trump administration would now decide which media outlets get to participate in the “presidential reporting pool,” a group of reporters who cover the president and White House.

That night, following the announcement, the White House replaced the Huffington Post and Reuters, a news wire agency. This follows the Trump administration’s ban earlier this month of The Associated Press, another news wire agency, from White House events, because it would not refer to the Gulf of Mexico as Gulf of America, and the Associated Press’s lawsuit in response to that ban, which legal experts everywhere say violated the First Amendment.

What is a pool reporter exactly?

A pool reporter serves the public, historically, not the president. Not every outlet in the world can be at the White House at once. One, many many outlets can’t afford to have a Washington, D.C., bureau, and two, there are logistical realities — the Oval Office, Air Force One, and the press briefing room aren’t that large.

For decades, the White House Correspondents’ Association and its members have determined who is part of the pool rotation — to sit in one of the 13 seats on Air Force One, for example. And that pool reporter has an obligation to share — even before publishing for their own outlet — the historical record of whatever event or important discussion they witnessed.

How significant is it for two news wire agencies — The Associated Press and Reuters — to be absent from the pool?

There’s a lot about this change that’s disconcerting. The president is now choosing who is covering him. But as a journalist who has worked in newspapers and outlets from Texas to Florida to Missouri, I can tell you that the loss of the AP and Reuters from the pool will fundamentally change what news we’re all getting on a day-to-day basis. The AP and Reuters are news wire services, two of the three wire services that were part of the pool. Bloomberg News is the third. Wire agencies act like a subscription service for news — they’re responsible for gathering news and distributing it.

Media outlets of all sizes — from The New York Times to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times -– where I once worked — can rely on wire services to help round out their content. To drive that point home, AP, Reuters, and Bloomberg released a joint statement today underlying this fact: “Much of the White House coverage people see in their local news outlets, wherever they are in the world, comes from the wires.”

This loss “harms the spread of reliable information.” And reliable information is key here.

"People across the country, of all political interests, are going to very soon find themselves less informed as a result of the absence of AP and Reuters from the presidential pool."

Kirstin McCudden, managing editor of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker

Some would rather their favorite news outlet step into AP’s shoes — is that possible?

It’s understandable but simply, no, not overnight. These news wire services have a distribution system and long-standing contractual agreements with tens of thousands of media outlets globally. Even if you prefer that your local outlet picks from Breitbart rather than Reuters, there is no distribution system in place today.

Much of the White House coverage people see in their local news outlets, wherever they are in the world, comes from the wires. Excluding the AP, Reuters, and others from the pool will make it harder for local papers to operate. It could lead to even more closures and news deserts.

What do you say to people who say “Why should I care about The Associated Press or Reuters, as long as I just get my national news from X or other social media platforms?”

Social media may be a good place to find hot takes and commentary, but we all need the facts to originate from a trusted source. Even Trump isn’t suggesting news outlets shouldn’t have a role in informing the public about the White House — he just wants to choose which ones, and his choices don’t include leading wire services.

I think it’s important to pause and understand the role the AP and Reuters, these wire agencies, play in the media ecosystem. The loss — that we now have a president dictating who can ask him questions — can’t be overstated. People across the country, of all political interests, are going to very soon find themselves less informed as a result of this.

Do you have anything else to add?

People should take the time to understand what the press pool is. It’s OK to not have thought about it before this week because it is a system that has worked. Look at your local outlets and see where that news is coming from and think about the impact that this change will have on your own media ecosystem.

ALTON – Members of the public gathered at Alton City Hall on Thursday night for an open house event on potentially building a permanent flood wall in downtown Alton. Early on, attendees seemed to express confusion as it became apparent there would be no formal presentation – nor any opportunity to vocally express comments or concerns. Instead, poster boards showing various diagrams of the proposed flood wall were put on display in the City Council chambers. Rather than allowing public comments as in a typical city meeting, paper “Public Comment Sheets” were provided for the public to submit written responses. “This is such a waste of time!” one attendee shouted before nearly storming out, then returning to submit a written comment. Despite there being no formal presentation, the Alton Riverfront Advisory Commission prepared a slideshow presentation outlining the scope of the flooding problem and proposed solutions. Their presentation, and many

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Linda J. Johnson, who worked as a payroll officer and bookkeeper for the school district for nearly 30 years, created a second set of deposit slips and pocketed the cash.

Recent data from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing reveals about 7% of the workforce in the U.S. identify as Hispanic.

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