There have been reports in recent weeks suggesting that there may be major changes coming to the White House press briefing room in a second Trump administration.
The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) generally creates the briefing room seating chart, which gives the front row to what most of us would call the “mainstream media,” such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and network news channels, most of which, if not all, are notoriously biased to the left. However, the new Trump administration may take the responsibility away from the WHCA and seemingly set the seating arrangements itself.
The New York Sun reported that incoming press secretary Karoline Leavitt “foresees a briefing room makeup that features more independent and non-traditional organizations, including internet personalities that don’t have a print or TV presence,” presumably meaning independent podcasters, journalists and the like.
Hence, the WHCA, which essentially represents the legacy press, may no longer have the access it always did to smear President Trump and his administration, as it did with every Republican administration before it.
Some reporters anonymously complained about the idea when it came up last month. “It would be a total mess,” a White House reporter told The Hill. “I would expect people would probably boycott the briefings, though that would put certain outlets in a tough spot deciding if they want to go along with what the Trump people are trying to pull.”
The lack of self-awareness here is truly astonishing.
Although they may whine and gnash teeth, as the left tends to do any time it loses, the notion of removing what Trump rightly refers to as the “enemy of the people” is a great idea. The reason to have press briefings in the first place is for the American people to learn about current events, straight from the White House. What press briefings have essentially become are complete spectacles, with journalists/Democrat activists becoming famous either by playing “gotcha” or giving sycophantic praise depending on which party is in power. The only people who benefit from the current system are media networks and their hosts who then interview each other and pat each other on the back for how amazing they are. The public is left in the dark, about as informed as beforehand.
Trump ran in 2015 on “draining the swamp” and did a great job doing so in his first term. The idea of the mainstream media being blacklisted as “fake news” and a true negative for society, rather than a ruling class outlet to just be complained about regarding its blatant bias and hypocrisy, largely stemmed from the MAGA movement. If anyone is going to dismantle the legacy media’s hold on the White House press briefings, it is Trump and his administration.
The American people don’t need another Jim Acosta, who made a name for himself by consistent and obnoxious grandstanding to the point where the White House pulled his press pass, or Yamiche Alcindor, who views her job in journalism as a directive to bend the “moral arc toward justice.” There is a reason that trust in the media is at an all-time low. We deserve to learn what’s going on in their government, and the “enemy of the people” deserve nothing more than to be ignored. Destroying the monopoly of the legacy press is one incredible and easy way to drain the swamp and help make America great again.