White House officials inform reporters they won’t respond to anyone who displays preferred pronouns
"We do not respond to reporters with pronouns in their bios," a White House official told a journalist from The New York Times
By Gary Grimes
A number of White House communications officials have stated in emails that they will not engage with any reporters who include their preferred pronouns on their email signature.
This apparent policy follows Trump‘s executive order which demands all federal agencies to only recognise two genders – male and female – which he signed earlier this year.
According to a new report by The New York Times, multiple reporters across various news organisations have received responses from White House officials informing them they do not engage with those who display their preferred pronouns.
“I find it baffling that they care more about pronouns than giving journalists accurate information, but here we are,” Mr. Berg said in an email to The Times.
— Matt Berg (@mattberg33) April 9, 2025
Shoutout to NYT for including my comment about Trump White House’s absurd new practice: pic.twitter.com/52DLOOrJcw
“As a matter of policy, we do not respond to reporters with pronouns in their bios,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, wrote in response to a journalist enquiring about a climate research observatory.
Another official, Katie Miller, a senior adviser at the Department of Government Efficiency, sent a similar response to a journalist who wrote to her to ask about her department’s legal records. “As a matter of policy, I don’t respond to people who use pronouns in their signatures as it shows they ignore scientific realities and therefore ignore facts,” she reportedly replied. “This applies to all reporters who have pronouns in their signature.”
“Any reporter who chooses to put their preferred pronouns in their bio clearly does not care about biological reality or truth and therefore cannot be trusted to write an honest story,” Leavitt, the press secretary, wrote in a separate email.
“Evading tough questions certainly runs counter to transparent engagement with free and independent press reporting” – The New York Times
In response to an enquiry asking directly about this policy, Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, told the newspaper: “If The New York Times spent the same amount of time actually reporting the truth as they do being obsessed with pronouns, maybe they would be a half-decent publication.”
The New York Times has suggested that the policy is in place not just to take a stance on pronouns but also to allow the White House to evade answering difficult questions.
“Evading tough questions certainly runs counter to transparent engagement with free and independent press reporting,” a spokesman for The New York Times said in a statement on the matter. “But refusing to answer a straightforward request to explain the administration’s policies because of the formatting of an email signature is both a concerning and baffling choice, especially from the highest press office in the U.S. government.”