White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announces major changes for media at first briefing

Leavitt announced there would be a ‘new media’ seat at White House press briefings

At her first White House press briefing on Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the Trump administration was rolling out major changes to make room for newer, less traditional media voices in the briefing room.

Leavitt told reporters these changes were being made to keep in line with President Donald Trump’s “revolutionary media approach” that he deployed during his campaign in speaking to popular podcast hosts and social media influencers.

“In keeping with this revolutionary media approach that President Trump deployed during the campaign, the Trump White House will speak to all media outlets and personalities, not just the legacy media who are seated in this room,” she began before citing Gallup polls showing Americans’ low confidence in the mainstream media.

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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds her first news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Jan. 28, 2025 in Washington, DC. At 27 years old, Leavitt is the youngest White House press secretary in U.S. history. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“Millions of Americans, especially young people, have turned from traditional television outlets and newspapers to consume their news from podcasts, blogs, social media and other independent outlets,” Leavitt continued. “It’s essential to our team that we share President Trump‘s message everywhere and adapt this White House to the new media landscape in 2025.”

Leavitt announced steps the Trump administration was taking to accomplish this, beginning with restoring the press passes for 440 journalists whose passes she said “were wrongly revoked” by the Biden administration.

The briefing room will also now be opened up to “new media voices who produce news-related content” and outlets who haven’t been welcomed into the briefing room previously, she said.

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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks to members of the press in the grounds of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 22, 2025. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP) (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images) (Getty)

“We welcome independent journalists, podcasters, social media influencers and content creators to apply for credentials to cover this White House,” Leavitt said, directing these media voices to the White House’s website to apply.

The press secretary announced the seat in the front of the briefing room would now be known as the “new media seat,” reserved for eligible new media applicants who meet the criteria.

“Our first questions for today‘s briefing will go to these new media members whose outlets, despite being some of the most viewed news websites in the country, have not been given seats in this room,” Leavitt said, before taking her first questions from Axios reporter Mike Allen and Breitbart reporter Matt Boyle.

The White House in Washington, DC. (Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

“It is a fact that Americans are consuming their news media from various different platforms, especially young people,” Leavitt said. “As the youngest press secretary in history, thanks to President Trump, I take great pride in opening up this room to new media voices to share the president‘s message with as many Americans as possible,” she added before extending an invitation again to “legitimate independent journalists” to cover the new administration.

Leavitt said it was a priority for the White House to honor the first amendment and said she took “great pride” in opening up the briefing room to new media voices.