Journalists call out reported White House plan to reshuffle media seats

The White House Correspondents’ Association on Monday strongly objected to a reported plan for the White House to take over the process of determining where reporters sit in the briefing room.

The organization has long determined the seating chart, awarding prime positions for the major television networks, news wires and newspapers.

But Axios reported Sunday that the Trump administration “plans to impose its own seating chart for reporters,” with an announcement likely coming in the next few weeks.

“The White House should abandon this wrong-headed effort and show the American people they’re not afraid to explain their policies and field questions from an independent media free from government control,” the board of the WHCA wrote in a memo obtained by the Washington Post.

In late February, the White House took over another primary function of the WHCA by wresting control of the process of determining who is in the pool that covers the president in close proximity. “The reason the White House wants control of the briefing room is the same reason they took control of the pool: to exert pressure on journalists over coverage they disagree with,” the association wrote.

A White House official who spoke with Axios on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that haven’t been announced said that the goal of the seating chart is not to ensure “favorable coverage” but instead to reflect changes in the media environment toward new-media platforms and independent creators – a “fundamental restructuring of the briefing room, based on metrics more reflective of how media is consumed today.” The White House also took a step in this direction by establishing a dedicated “new media” seat during briefings.

According to Axios’ story, legacy media outlets will still have a place in the room, though they might not have the close proximity to the podium they have long had.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not respond to an email seeking comment about whether the White House plans to impose a seating chart.

“If the White House pushes forward, it will become even more clear that the administration is seeking to cynically seize control of the system through which the independent press organizes itself, so that it is easier to exact punishment on outlets over their coverage,” the WHCA said Monday.

On Saturday, the WHCA said to members that it had decided to cancel a planned appearance by comedian Amber Ruffin at its White House correspondents’ dinner, an event that some White House reporters believe is particularly problematic this year because of the efforts by the Trump administration to exert control over news coverage. The decision to not have Ruffin perform, WHCA President Eugene Daniels said, was made “to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists.”

The White House is also enmeshed in a lawsuit filed by the Associated Press after its journalists were banned from attending most presidential events because the organization would not change its style guidance to primarily refer to a body of water as the Gulf of America instead of the Gulf of Mexico.

The AP has a prime seat in the first row of the briefing room that could be in jeopardy in a White House-dictated seating chart.

“The White House picked this fight and continues to do so. Our members want to cover the administration without fear or favor, and stand ready to question government officials from any corner of the Brady Briefing Room,” the WHCA said.

While the planned seating chart change drew criticism on social media, it also drew the backing of former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who is now a Fox News contributor. “The decision re who gets to sit in taxpayer provided seats in a government building should not be made by journalists,” he wrote in a post on X.

Sean Spicer, Trump’s first White House press secretary, called the briefing room shift a “fantastic way to kick off the week,” adding on X, “The White House Press Briefing room is owned by US taxpayers – not the leftist members of the elitist White House Correspondents Association. The idea they put a name plate on these chairs can call them ‘their seats’ is an outrage.”