New Trump Administration, new era!
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to shake up traditions in the White House briefing room that would give independent journalists access to daily press briefings instead of fake news media outlets.
Since the 2016 presidential election, mainstream media outlets, including CNN, MSNBC, NBC News, and the New York Times, have spent their time and energy attacking Trump, his family, and his policies. So, why do they think they deserve the head chair at the table?
They don’t, according to the incoming president.
Instead, popular podcasters like Joe Rogan and Megyn Kelly may be given press passes and invited to the White House press conferences in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room.
Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., hinted at the possibility for social media influencers and independent reporters to join the daily briefings hosted by Trump’s new press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
“If The New York Times has lied, they’ve been averse to everything, they’re functioning as the marketing arm to the Democrat party,” Trump Jr. said. “Why not open it up to people who have larger viewerships, stronger followings.”
However, the president does not control the 49 reporters who gain access to the briefings— the White House Correspondents’ Association does. But the White House determines press credentials.
During Trump’s first term, he tried to ban certain outlets from off-camera press briefings, including the New York Times, Politico, CNN, and BBC. Most recently, his campaign barred Politico, Axios, and Puck News from its election watch event in Mar-a-Lago last week.
Fox News’ Will Cain argued that Americans want to hear from people like Rogan or Youtuber Theo Von rather than from traditional media outlets.
“That whole group, the one that has the 49 seats now, they have lost everything, every bit of trust through Russiagate to Donald Trump to COVID and every other story,” he said. “What credibility do you have that you think entitles you to that seat? And I think most of us at this point don’t care. I don’t care what ABC or CBS or NBC or CNN have to say, but I would be interested to hear what a question from Joe Rogan would be.”