White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt (
Image: AP)

The latest White House press secretary is showing liberal media that there is a new sheriff in town as she looks to shake things up by introducing a new seating chart in the briefing room for press conferences

The impending power play by the youngest White House press secretary in history and the most powerful Gen Z government employee today could see liberal media organisations recoil about their new seating arrangements.

The Daily Mail reported that the brazen strategy could upend decades of precedent and anger certain liberal media outlets. The move by the 27-year-old press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is facing plastic surgery romors, could prove to be a decisive blow against several industry powerhouses.

The new seating chart – if implemented – will determine that for the first time in modern history, the White House will dictate where reporters sit in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room. Seating arrangements have been organized by the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA). It comes after Leavitt was accused of spreading misinformation and an audio blunder ruining a press conference.

The tight space of the briefing room means that there are only 49 spaces for media, and these spots are prized – especially the front row allocation which has traditionally gone to Legacy media organisations such as CNN, CBS, NBC and ABC. But this is set to change – with many of these organisations being accused in the past by the president and his staff of spreading “fake news” and they may find themselves sitting several rows back in the proposed arrangement.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt arrives to hold the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC. ( 
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)

The administration’s plan to assume control of the briefing room seating chart is believed to take effect in the coming weeks – stripping the WHCA of a role it has held for generations. With a changing media landscape, the White House is also looking to adapt to modern times and is examining ways of evolving current systems. The WHCA – a body that was established to protect access for journalists and to promote media independence – has traditionally supervised both the seating arrangements in the briefing room and the daily press pool that shadows the President Of The United States.

However, this arrangement appears to be coming to an end, with officials from the White House claiming the changes are part of an effort to modernize the media’s access, which is predicated on ‘metrics more reflective of how media is consumed today.’ Based on reports – this will most likely result in fewer guaranteed seats for institutional heavyweights and allow more access for rising digital platforms such as Axios and possibly even individual online influencers.

‘It’s not just about favorable coverage,’ a senior official told Axios. ‘It’s about recognizing the media landscape as it is – not as it was 30 years ago.’ They added that media who want a seat in the room need to prove they have a sizable audience – a nameplate of a long-established stalwart of the legacy journalism community is no longer simply enough to secure a front-row chair.

This latest proposition follows a pattern of changes outlined by the Trump administration that has caused alarm amongst legacy media outlets. Ever since taking office, Trump has labelled and treated some members of the press as ‘an enemy of the people’. In February, the Associated Press, one of the oldest and most respected newswires in the world, was banned from the White House press pool. The decision was handed down after the AP refused to call the former ‘Gulf of Mexico’, its new name the ‘Gulf of America.’

The AP has pushed back against the action – stating in federal court that its exclusion leaves the Associated Press ‘dead in the water’ but so far, a judge has refused to reinstate them. Officials in the White House insist that traditional news organizations will not be eliminated from the new seating chart – but their privileged front-row positions may be gone for good.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt talks to reporters ( 
Image:
Getty Images)

‘We want to balance disruption with responsibility,’ one senior official explained. This latest decision comes amid a fierce and ongoing battle between the White House and the press corps. Leavitt has found herself at the center of the controversy as she looks to examine policy and alter media access to the White House.

Leavitt seems more than happy to play the role of gatekeeper in a bid to protect the president from organisations that are perceived to have been combative in the past. Especially those on the other side of the political spectrum. Critics believe the latest move is part of a strategic effort to diminish the power certain media organisations have while the Trump administration is running the country.

Going from prime front seat real estate to the back row will be seen as a hard pill to swallow for several news outlets who may feel like they have been banished from prominence. This reshuffle is the most recent battle in the war between Trump and the liberal media – featuring a press secretary who is unapologetically decisive when it comes to dealing with reporters she believes have been grossly unfair in their coverage.