Karoline Leavitt Invites Content Creators to the White House Press Briefing

In the delicate journalistic ecosystem of the White House’s James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, the seating chart is the be-all, end-all of status. Where a reporter sits says it all, from the coveted first row of well-coiffed network correspondents to the back, a Siberia of smaller outlets like Cheddar and Gray TV.

So at a moment where Washington’s hierarchies are in flux, it was no surprise on Tuesday when the Trump administration declared that the seats could use a shake-up.

One prominent chair off to the side of the press secretary’s lectern, typically occupied by a White House official, will now be assigned to a reporter from “new media,” a catchall category that the administration said would include podcasters, social media influencers and other creators of “news-related content.”

“It’s essential to our team that we share President Trump’s message everywhere and adapt our White House to the new media landscape in 2025,” Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, said at her debut briefing, while projecting a chart that showed Americans’ declining trust in traditional media institutions.

The announcement was intended to be rich in symbolism, although it also appeared to be something of a compromise.

Seats in the briefing room are traditionally assigned by the White House Correspondents’ Association, which negotiates with the president’s aides over access and logistics. Rumors had flown that Mr. Trump may seek to evict news organizations that he professed to dislike.