Axios interview: Inside the briefing room
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The Trump administration is exerting more control over the press corps in order to expand access, not to limit it, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told me at an Axios Communicators event today.
- "It's not about ideology. It's about increasing the wide array of outlets that have access," Leavitt said.
📝 Where it stands: The White House press office recently took over deciding which outlets will be in the pool rotation that covers the president's daily movements — decisions previously made by the White House Correspondents' Association.
- "I don't view them as restrictions. We view them as opening access to more outlets, more voices, more news, journalists and outlets," Leavitt said. "Why should a single outlet have the privilege of being in that 13-person press pool every single day?"
🎤 The intrigue: Increasing access for newer and non-traditional outlets, even including MAGA influencers, is a worthy goal, Jay Carney — a press secretary to President Obama who's now Airbnb's global head of policy and communications — told Axios' Eleanor Hawkins at the same event.
- "I think it's important to recognize the media landscape has changed, to bring in new voices, to shake things up," Carney said. "I think that's admirable ... [E]verybody can learn from that."
More Leavitt ... More Carney.
