This issue first came up during the Clinton administration.
At the time, World Net Daily was leading the charge for alternative news outlets. Congress (or their "organization of journalists" as you refer to) decided that WND was not an accredited news organization and refused to give them press passes to the Congress galleries. Up to that point, WND was getting daily passes, but they wanted the same accredited passes that the NYT, WaPo, NBC, ABC, CBS, Time, Newsweek, et. al., were getting.
WND was being singled out at the time because of the reporting of Paul Sperry. Sperry reported on several hot issues for Clinton: 1) Lewinsky, 2) Sperry embarrassed Clinton during a White House Easter Egg event for the families of WH staffers, 3) the missing Gore emails and missing backups, 4) the intentionally downgraded phone systems in the WH that can't show which specific telephone placed a specific call.
WND was refused permanent accreditation, and a fight ensued. WND eventually won a permanent press pass. They probably didn't realize it at the time, but they were legitimizing the alternative media for everyone else to come.
Today's result? Obama chooses a Huffington Post "reporter" to ask a question at a White House press conference.
-PJ
Thanks for taking the time to give all that background information. I had no idea. Do you know....has a press pass ever been taken away/revoked from any journalist/organization? If Obama fails to silence FOX, do you think he would revoke it and what do you think would then happen?