Despite and not least because of several security glitches in the past, the White House in Washington is very heavily secured complex. Anyone who wants to get in needs a permit – even if it’s only for a short press conference. It can take up to 24 hours to be granted a day pass. At this point Christian Wilp is the only German journalist in possession of a ‘White House Hard Pass’. “This makes it possible for me to attend events even at very short notice,” he explains. “If I had to reapply for credentials each time, I would regularly miss press conferences, which are sometimes announced just two hours in advance.” Also, Wilp can move freely around the White House grounds without the need to be escorted by security staff. This gives him great flexibility when sending live feed to Germany. “I work with hired camera teams, who also have a hard pass.”
In order to use this information and mobility advantage not only for himself, but build on it further, Wilp has joined six foreign correspondents from Canada, France, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Palestine and Morocco in setting up a pool of foreign correspondents – as a complement to the American pool. It’s an unprecedented phenomenon in the history of the White House. “The idea is that there is always one of us at events that are of international relevance,” says Wilp. “Like when foreign heads of state come to visit. In coordination with the White House press office, we make sure we’ve got these occasions covered.” The principle is similar to that of the regular US pool. “One correspondent supplies the others,” Wilp explains. In cooperation with the established White House Correspondents’ Association and the White House Press Office, the new Foreign Press Pool is about to be officially established. In principle it is open to other journalists as well. The prerequisite is that they regularly report from the White House – and they must have permanent White House press credentials.
Christian Wilp in front of the White House in Washington DC
During state visits in particular, the Foreign Press Pool representatives clearly have an advantage over their American colleagues: “We often have more background information,” Wilp notes. “When, for example, the German chancellor Angela Merkel visited the Oval Office, I was able to tell all the others who was in her delegation – as well as provide some additional information about her visit. By the same token, our representative from Saudi Arabia was able to tell us what Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri el Maliki was mumbling in Arabic during his visit.”
Another objective of the Foreign Press Pool is to gain better access to the government in general. For instance, in the past only agencies and the leading American newspapers and broadcasters were usually invited to the background talks in the office of White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. Now, members of the Foreign Press Pool are also regular guests. “We get important information here, especially on international topics,” says Wilp. “As individual correspondents, we would probably not have been granted many of the necessary access rights.” Now, he says, there is always someone from the group in attendance, to make sure that viewers back home get the latest news from Washington.
Christian Wilp (45) has worked for N-TV since 1996, among other things as a parliamentary unit correspondent in Berlin. He has headed the N-TV Studio in Washington, which he himself established, since 1 January 2003. The studio is part of AP’s International Media Center, located just a few hundred yards away from the White House. From live positions directly at the seat of the US president and the various AP studios, Wilp can report live to Germany within minutes. Wilp is married to an American and has two children.