Trump administration’s proposal for new venue and inclusion of non-traditional media follows president-elect’s latest outbursts against mainstream reporters

Talk radio hosts and bloggers could be invited to official White House press briefings once the Trump administration takes office, under a highly irregular proposal being floated that may also remove briefings from the West Wing.

Trump’s pick for White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, said on Sunday that due to “off the chart” interest in the new administration, the president-elect was considering moving briefings from the James S Brady press briefing room, which has been used by presidents to address the media since 1970, to a venue with a greater capacity.

A report published by Esquire magazine on Saturday indicated the venue could be inside the Old Executive Office Building, just west of the White House.

“I know change is difficult sometimes,” Spicer told Fox News. “But sometimes change can actually be better.”

Spicer argued the proposal would mean “you can involve more people, be more transparent, have more accessibility”. He suggested that this would mean outlets that are not traditionally part of the White House press corps would be able to ask questions during presidential press briefings.

There’s a lot of talk radio and bloggers and people that can’t fit in right now and maybe don’t have a permanency because they’re not part of the Washington elite media,” Spicer said, “but to allow them an opportunity to ask the press secretary or the president a question is a positive thing. It’s more democratic.”

Around 200 journalists make up the White House press corps. The Brady press briefing room holds 49 seats for major media organisations, which are granted space by the White House Correspondent Association [WHCA]. The Guardian is among those outlets allocated a space.

It remains unclear how the proposal would be implemented, but it is likely to be interpreted as a hostile rebuke to conventional media outlets around the country.

Jeff Mason, the WHCA president and Reuters White House correspondent, said in a statement he would meet with Spicer on Sundayto learn more.

“The WHCA will fight to keep the briefing room and West Wing access to senior administration officials open,” Mason said in a statement. “We object strenuously to any move that would shield the president and his advisers from the scrutiny of an on-site White House press corps.”

During a chaotic press conference at Trump Tower on Wednesday, the first the businessman has held since July 2016, hundreds of journalists crammed into a small pen as Trump frequently lambasted certain media organisations and occasionally individual reporters. Trump was incensed by reports on a leaked and unsubstantiated dossier, which alleged frequent contacts between his campaign team and Russian authorities, and suggested the Kremlin held compromising material that could be used to blackmail Trump.

Trump was also asked by a reporter at Breitbart News what his views were on media ethics and “fake news”, to which he replied: “Some of the media outlets that I deal with are fake news more so than anybody. I could name them, but I won’t bother. You have a few sitting right in front of us.

“They’re very, very dishonest people, but I think it’s just something we’re going to have to live with. I guess the advantage I have is that I can speak back.”

According to the Associated Press, Breitbart News, branded by critics as a racist, far-right news site, was the only media organisation to have a reserved seat in the front row for the conference. Steve Bannon, Trump’s incoming chief strategist and senior counselor, previously served as the site’s executive chairman.

The president-elect’s campaign drew consistent support from numerous conservative talk radio hosts and internet conspiracy theory sites, for instance Alex Jones’s InfoWars. During the campaign, Trump took the unprecedented step of appearing on Jones’s site, known as America’s foremost conservative conspiracy theory outlet. Jones has previously dismissed the Sandy Hook massacre, in which 20 elementary school students and six school staff were murdered, as “completely fake”, and has branded the September 11 terror attacks an “inside job”.

Trump was interviewed for around 30 minutes by Jones in December 2015, and later called Jones a “nice guy”. Jones claimed in November that Trump called him to thank him for his support after winning the presidential election.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/15/white-house-press-briefings-talk-radio-bloggers-trump

: The incoming Trump administration is considering moving White
: House press briefings out of the West Wing to accommodate
: more than the “Washington media elite,” President-elect
: Donald Trump’s press secretary said.

: “This is about greater accessibility, more people in the
: process,” Sean Spicer said Sunday on Fox News Channel’s
: “Media Buzz.” Involving more people, including bloggers and
: others who aren’t from the mainstream media, “should be
: seen as a welcome change,” he said.

: Spicer and other Trump officials said no decisions had been
: made.

: Their comments followed a report Saturday by Esquire, citing
: unidentified officials from the transition team, that the
: new administration may move the press corps out of the main
: White House building altogether because of antagonism
: between Trump and the media.

: Any change would be made for logistical reasons, in response
: to heavy demand from media organizations, Vice
: President-elect Mike Pence said Sunday.
: Larger Venue

: “The briefing room is open now to all reporters who request
: access,” White House Correspondents’ Association President
: Jeff Mason said in a statement Sunday. “We object
: strenuously to any move that would shield the president and
: his advisers from the scrutiny of an on-site White House
: press corps.”

: Mason said he was meeting with Spicer “to try to get more
: clarity on exactly what” the proposal is.

: “There’s such a tremendous amount of interest in this incoming
: administration that they’re giving some consideration to
: finding a larger venue on the 18 acres in the White House
: complex, to accommodate that extraordinary interest,” Pence
: said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”

: “The interest of the team is to make sure that we accommodate
: the broadest number of people who are interested and media
: from around the country and around the world,” Pence said.

: On ABC’s “This Week,” incoming White House chief of staff
: Reince Priebus said demand for press-conference credentials
: far exceeds the “49 people” who can fit into the current
: briefing room.
: ‘Uptight’ Press

: “The one thing that we discussed was whether or not we want to
: move the initial press conferences into the Executive
: Office Building,” Priebus said, adding, “you can fit four
: times the amount of people.”

: “I know that some of the folks in the press are uptight about
: this, and I understand,” Priebus said. He didn’t address
: whether a change was being mulled only for briefings or
: also for the media’s daily working arrangements. The
: briefing room sits between the offices of White House
: communications staff and those of major news organizations,
: and is steps from the president’s Oval Office.

: After “500 or 600” people attended Trump’s press conference in
: New York on Jan. 11, the president-elect’s first since the
: election, “we started thinking, man alive, if we have more
: people involved instead of less people involved, wouldn’t
: that be a good thing,” Priebus said.

: Although located across the street, the Executive Office
: Building is still “the White House,” he said.