White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (she/her) has announced that queries from reporters will not be answered if they include gender pronouns in their email signature.
The White House has said they will not respond to reporters because they are “ignoring scientific realities”.
“As a matter of policy, we do not respond to reporters with pronouns in their bios.” Leavitt said before adding, “I don’t respond to journalists who use pronouns as it shows they ignore scientific realities and therefore ignore facts.”
The new policy is the latest move from the Office of President Donald Trump (he/him) that has been directed at the media. The President has also signed several executive orders targeting people who are transgender or gender diverse.
Under Leavitt’s watch the White Press pool has been rearranged so the White House rather than the White House Correspondents Associations, an independent journalist organisation, are choosing which reporters and invited the Oval Office, onboard Airforce One, and other spaces that cannot accommodate the full press corps.
The administration has also singled out individual media outlets who it has disagreements with, banning them from attending White House briefings. Associated Press was temporarily banned after they refused to follow a directive from President Trump (he/him) that called for the Gulf of Mexico to referred to as the Gulf of America.
The Trump administration has also introduced a new social media seat in the White House Press Briefing Room to which a variety of online publications, social media influencers and bloggers are invited to take part in the press briefings.
