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OAN Staff James Meyers
10:08 AM – Monday, March 31, 2025
The Trump administration is planning on taking over the seating chart for the press briefing room at the White House, in a move that will likely boot legacy media outlets to the back, according to a report.
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The move by the Trump administration is the latest effort to change traditional media’s control on White House coverage.
According to Axios, the White House wants to make its own seating chart in the coming weeks, which would take over a function that has been managed by the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA).
Legacy media outlets will still be included in the chart, but some will likely be demoted from their coveted upfront seats, a senior White House official told Axios.
Priority seating is known for giving reporters more face time with the press secretary, which gives them a higher chance of being selected for questions and featured on television.
The official also said plans have already been formalized for a “fundamental restructuring of the briefing room, based on metrics more reflective of how media is consumed today.”
The report revealed that the new layout will include journalists from TV, print and digital outlets, as well as social media influencers and newer outlets like Axios, Punchbowl and NOTUS.
“The goal isn’t merely favorable coverage,” the White House official told Axios. “It’s truly an honest look at consumption [of the outlets’ coverage]. Influencers are important but it’s tough because they aren’t [equipped to provide] consistent coverage. So the ability to cover the White House is part of the metrics.”
Last month, the White House took over control of the pool of reporters who accompany President Donald Trump in the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One, which is another privilege previously controlled by the WHCA.
The Trump administration took over the pool responsibilities soon after the WHCA sided with the Associated Press in its battle with the Trump administration.
In February, AP reporters repeatedly used the term “Gulf of Mexico,” ignoring Trump’s proclamation to rename it “Gulf of America.” As a result, officials barred their reporters from entering the press briefing room and kept them from boarding Air Force One.
Just last week, the 47th president said he “would love to” slash federal funding for public broadcasting networks like PBS and NPR.
Trump also recently clashed with individual reporters.
Earlier this month, Trump cut off CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during a press briefing, saying sharply: “Excuse me, I didn’t pick you.”
He also would not take a question from an NBC News reporter and criticized the network as “so discredited.”
However, the WHCA is appearing to abide by some of the Trump administration requests, canceling plans for an anti-Trump comedian to host its annual dinner on April 26th.
“At this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists,” WHCA President Eugene Daniels wrote in a letter to members on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has taken control of who is a member of the White House, which is a smaller group of up to a dozen journalists who cover presidential events with extremely limited access.
The WHCA has handled those assignments for decades.
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