Scoop: Trump expected to shake up White House briefing room

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Axios

8 hours ago


A new Trump administration is expected to challenge traditions in the famous James Brady Press Briefing Room, sources told Axios.

Why it matters: Confidants of President-elect Trump are considering changes that would give newer, MAGA-aligned voices access to daily press briefings.

The big picture: Practices that have governed the White House's interaction with the press have long favored mainstream outlets such as major broadcast and cable news networks, national newspapers and wire services.

Trump's first administration tried to ban outlets it saw as unfavorable from off-camera press briefings. That included the New York Times, Politico, CNN and BBC.

More recently, his campaign blocked multiple reporters from its election watch event in Mar-a-Lago last week, including those from Politico, Axios and Puck News.

Zoom in: At least two media executives who run MAGA-aligned news outlets — one in streaming and one in text — told Axios they plan to apply for credentials that would give them access to White House press briefings.

The briefing room currently seats 49 reporters across an array of outlets. Any efforts to expand access to daily press briefings to pro-Trump outlets, such as Steve Bannon's War Room, would need to come at the expense of existing outlets.

Seat assignments tend to flux marginally with each new administration. But the most visible seats in the front have historically been reserved for bigger TV networks that air clips from the briefing room regularly.

Yes, but: The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) has control over seating, but the White House determines press credentials.

Therefore, it's possible for an outlet to be credentialed, but not have a briefing room seat.

The WHCA famously removed the conservative One America News Network (OANN) in 2020 from the daily White House briefing rotation after the outlet failed to comply with WHCA COVID rules.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/2024/11/13/trump-reporters-white-house-briefing-room