The Trump administration is preparing to take control of seating assignments in the White House press briefing room, potentially elevating conservative news outlets to more prominent positions.
This move represents President Trump’s most direct confrontation yet with the Washington press corps.
Currently, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) controls the seating chart, with established media organizations like ABC News, The New York Times, CNN, and The Washington Post occupying front-row positions. This arrangement allows these outlets to dominate press briefings, while journalists in the back struggle to ask questions.
The White House has confirmed it’s considering rearranging the briefing room seats but hasn’t provided specific details about whether outlets would be removed or how the chart would be reorganized. WHCA President Eugene Daniels has criticized the plan as a “wrong-headed effort,” suggesting it’s an attempt to “exact punishment on outlets over their coverage.”
This potential change follows other recent tensions between the administration and the media. In February, the president removed The Associated Press from its special access to presidential events after the news service continued to use “Gulf of Mexico” instead of Mr. Trump’s newly designated “Gulf of America” name. The White House also took control of the “press pool” selection from the WHCA and has added conservative-leaning outlets to press pools and briefings.
Despite these conflicts, Mr. Trump has provided unusually open access to reporters, taking questions at a rate unseen in modern presidencies. However, media coverage of Mr. Trump has remained predominantly negative. A study by the conservative Media Research Center found that campaign coverage comparing the president to former Vice President Kamala Harris was “the most lopsided in history.”
Public perception of the president’s relationship with the media follows party lines. A recent Pew Research poll shows 70% of Democrats believe he has been too critical of the media, while only 23% of Republicans agree. Conversely, 69% of Republicans think the media are too critical of the president, compared to just 12% of Democrats.
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The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at aispotlight@washingtontimes.com.
