Feb 2, 2017

White House Skype sessions here to stay

Jonathan Swan

Sean Spicer became the first White House Press Secretary yesterday to field questions via Skype from remote reporters. Journalists in Rhode Island, Ohio and Kentucky got questions. Another went to the Oregon-based conservative talk host Lars Larsen.

The Skypers went local: Questions for Spicer included coal for Kentucky; whether Providence, R.I. is a sanctuary city; and economic revitalization in Cleveland, Ohio.

And some were softballs: Jeff Jobe, a publisher in South Central Kentucky, opened his question by praising Trump for "aggressively acting" on his election promises. Overall, however, they shifted the conversation out of Washington and into the states.

Why this matters: This move is a double whammy for Trump: It throws shade at "the swamp" and wins the President populist cred. The White House communications shop is still contemplating the frequency of the Skype sessions and how many questions will be allowed each time. But they're here to stay and we bet they're just the start of some pretty disruptive changes in White House communications.

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