Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Announces Shake Up To White House Briefing Room

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced a few changes to the White House press corps Tuesday during her first briefing at the lectern.

Ahead of Trump’s swearing in, Leavitt repeatedly teased the administration’s desire to switch up the briefing room and highlight more independent media. The new press secretary unveiled a new addition to the White House briefing room Tuesday, explaining that seats in the area typically reserved for staff will be given to outlets who do not officially hold a place in the room.

“The Trump White House will speak to all media outlets and personalities, not just the legacy media who are seated in this room. Because, according to recent polling from Gallup, American’s trust in mass media has fallen to a record low,” Leavitt explained.

“Starting today, this seat in the front of the room which is usually occupied by the press secretary’s staff, will be called the new media seat. My team will review the applications and give credentials to new media outlets that meet our criteria and pass United States Secret Service requirements to enter the White House complex,” Leavitt said.

Seated in the seats at the first briefing were reporters from Axios and Breitbart. Leavitt kicked off the briefing by calling on the “new media” seats. Press secretaries typically call on a reporter from The Associated Press, who usually sit in the center of the front row, to start the briefings.

Leavitt also added that their press team would be restoring the press passes of the “over 440 journalists whose press passes were wrongly revoked by the previous administration.”

In May 2023, the Biden White House revoked press passes for hundreds of journalists, changing the eligibility for such. Under the changes, reporters were required to show “full-time employment with an organization whose principal business is news dissemination,” have a “physical address” in the “Washington, D.C., area,” and prove that they have “accessed the White House campus at least once during the prior six months for work, or have proof of employment within the last three months to cover the White House.”

.@PressSec @KarolineLeavitt: “Reagan, since you’re in the back row, I hear you! The back row hasn’t gotten much attention in the last four years, so I’m happy to answer your question.”@DailyCaller’s @ReaganReese_: “Does the President intend to permanently cut off funding to… pic.twitter.com/bC2pWLH4Yf

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 28, 2025

The press secretary encouraged podcasters, social media influencers and other independent media voices to apply for a White House press pass to cover the administration. “New media” is encouraged to apply at the new White House website to handle such requests.

During the briefing, the press secretary spanned the room, taking questions from journalists standing beyond the front rows in the briefing room and in the “new media” seats.