The White House is preparing to take control of its briefing room’s seating chart in a brazen power play that could upend decades of precedent and anger the liberal media.
At the center of the storm is Karoline Leavitt, the 27-year-old White House press secretary and rising conservative firebrand who finds herself poised to deliver the decisive blow.
It will mean that for the first time in modern history, the White House will dictate where reporters sit in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room rather than the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA).
Legacy media outlets such as CNN, NBC, CBS and ABC, who have long been accustomed to a place on the front-row, may find themselves several rows further back. The briefing room contains just 49 seats in very tight quarters.
The administration’s plan to assume control of the briefing room seating chart will take effect in the coming weeks, stripping the WHCA of a role it has held for generations.
The WHCA, a body established to protect journalistic access and independence, has traditionally governed not only seating arrangements but also the daily press pool that shadows the president, but those days appear to be quickly coming to an end.
White House officials say the changes are part of a broader effort to modernize media access based on ‘metrics more reflective of how media is consumed today.’
That means fewer guaranteed seats for institutional heavyweights and more room for rising digital platforms like Punchbowl News, Axios, and even individual online influencers.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is preparing to seize control of the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room’s coveted seating chart
It will mean that for the first time in modern history, the White House rather than the press will dictate where reporters sit during official briefings
The current seating chart, seen above, was last adjusted in 2023, but now the Trump administration wants to decide where individual media outlets sit
‘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.’
Essentially, those media who want a seat in the room need to prove they have an audience. A legacy nameplate simply isn’t enough anymore.
The change follows a string of maneuvers by the Trump White House that has rattled legacy outlets.
Ever since taking office Trump has 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.
It came after the AP refused to adopt new terminology declared by President Trump via executive order, substituting ‘Gulf of Mexico’ with the name ‘Gulf of America.’
That decision sparked legal action from the AP, which has argued in federal court that its exclusion leaves the organization ‘dead in the water’, but a judge has so far refused to reinstate them.
The WHCA quickly threw its support behind the lawsuit – but the gesture may have only served to further fueled the administration’s resolve to restructure access on its own terms.
According to Axios one WHCA member privately floated the idea of rewriting the association’s bylaws to make the sitting White House press secretary, currently Leavitt, its president.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt walks toward reporters waiting to ask her questions outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington DC earlier this month
It is Leavitt who finds herself poised to deliver the decisive blow
Two empty seats that traditionally would have been reserved for the Associated Press reporter and photographer are shown in the press cabin of Air Force One during a flight last month
The Associated Press was barred access to some of President Donald Trump’s events, as well as the Oval Office and Air Force One for continuing to use the term ‘Gulf of Mexico’
The suggestion was described by administration officials as ‘interesting,’ though they acknowledged they were ‘skeptical the association’s board could pull it off.’
The WHCA has, for now, remained mostly silent with WHCA President Eugene Daniels not publicly commenting on the looming changes.
White House officials 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.
‘We want to balance disruption with responsibility,’ one senior official explained.
Leavitt’s decision comes amid a fierce and ongoing power struggle between the White House and the press corps, with Leavitt herself at the center of efforts to reshape White House media access.
Leavitt has looked to exclude traditional outlets and favor right-wing platforms that align with Trump’s political narrative.
Karoline Leavitt, 27, is the youngest White House press secretary in history
Critics believe the move is part of a calculated effort to humiliate and sideline media institutions that have frequently clashed with the Trump administration, particularly during President Trump’s turbulent return to power.
For correspondents used to commanding press conferences and dominating the nightly news cycle, the prospect of being shuffled to the back row might feel like exile.
The fight for control over the briefing room is only the latest battle in the war between Trump and the Washington press corps.
With Leavitt at the helm of White House communications, the administration’s posture has grown more unapologetically combative and more strategic in its planning.
Leavitt is fiercely defensive of Trump, always on-message and unafraid to break precedent if it suits the moment.
