Unconventional press

The day after Thanksgiving, the White House debuted a new section on its website. The media bias tracker calls out specific outlets and reporters for what it deems incorrect coverage. The infractions, pulled from news and opinion articles, include “false claim,” “left wing lunacy,” “malpractice,” and “bias.” Among the offenders highlighted in the first week were CBS News, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post.

“These outlets don’t just get it wrong—they do it over and over again,” the webpage claims.

In his second term in the White House, President Donald Trump is again sparring with the mainstream media. While Trump’s signature style is to be both talkative and combative, during his first year back in office his nontraditional method of dealing with the media has spread throughout his administration. Meanwhile, press secretary Karoline Leavitt touts the current administration as the most transparent and accessible in history.

According to an October Gallup poll, American trust in mass media is at an all-time low. Around 34% of all American adults say they have no trust in the media. At the White House, the solution has been to invite lesser-known, conservative media outlets to press briefings and to hit back at the well-known ones.

The press team launched its own “media wire” online to highlight coverage they deemed accurate, largely from right-wing outlets like Breitbart, The Daily Wire, and others. Meanwhile, press secretaries at other departments have forgone traditional press briefings and posted online updates highlighting departmental accomplishments instead.

Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former journalist, said the Trump administration’s addition of partisan media is a good change for the briefing room, which he says was previously stocked with reporters too uncritical of Democratic presidents.

“They’ve democratized the White House and democratized the administration, and they’ve taken a much more confrontational approach to the implications that are hidden in some questions, which I think is rather good,” he said.

Gonzalez also highlighted how often Trump engages with the media. “Trump is constantly talking to journalists. He will disparage them at a press conference, but he will take their questions.”

Data from the American Presidency Project suggests Trump will have participated in roughly 250 exchanges with reporters in 2025 alone. (President Joe Biden averaged 123 interactions with the press each year.) Multiple times each week, Trump invites the press pool into the Oval Office for a bill signing, a swearing-in ceremony, or remarks with White House visitors, sometimes taking questions for more than an hour. He’s also spoken to the press during nearly every trip on Air Force One.

But chattiness does not mean friendliness. In February, the administration indefinitely barred Associated Press reporters from the Oval Office and presidential events, citing the AP’s persistent use of the term “Gulf of Mexico” instead of the updated “Gulf of America.”

In October, Trump refiled a $15 billion lawsuit against The New York Times and three of its reporters for what he called false, malicious, and defamatory statements. And Trump is suing The Wall Street Journal for $10 billion for publishing a bawdy birthday message to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that bore Trump’s signature. (Trump denies writing it.)

The disputes extend beyond the courtroom. The president recently insulted a Bloomberg reporter by calling her “piggy,” and he responded to a CBS reporter’s questioning by asking, “Are you a stupid person?”

“Look, the president is very frank and honest with everyone in this room,” Leavitt said in the briefing room when reporters asked about the comment later. “He gets frustrated with reporters when you lie about him, when you spread fake news about him and his administration. But he also is the most transparent president in history, and he gives all of you in this room, as you all know, unprecedented access.”

While access in terms of camera time is increasing, physical access is decreasing. At the White House, reporters may no longer access “upper press,” the suite of offices adjacent to the Oval Office belonging to Leavitt and her top deputies and their assistants. The State Department has tightened rules for press passes and has not held an on-­camera press briefing since August.

A contentious relationship between president and press isn’t new. Reporters published dozens of articles critical of President Abraham Lincoln’s leadership. Former President Barack Obama authorized the DOJ to review phone records from reporters and pursued heavy penalties for government officials who leaked information to the press. Biden avoided the press but occasionally lashed out at Fox News reporters when he took offense at their questions.

“There is nothing in the Constitution that says that a president or a press secretary has to have press briefings,” said Steve Herman, former chief White House correspondent for Voice of America. “But I think it’s in the interest of any administration to maintain good relations with the mainstream media, even if they perceive those outlets to be hostile to the agenda of those particular administrations.”

Herman, now the executive director of the Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation at the University of Mississippi, admits no media outlet can be perfectly objective. But he finds Trump’s attacks on media outlets he doesn’t like concerning.

“The president of the United States is the messenger-in-chief. What he says sets the tone for the entire country,” Herman said. “A critical press is healthy for democracy, and I don’t think that is something that this president wants to or cares to acknowledge.”

The Pentagon closed its briefing room to reporters earlier this year, then in October changed its credentialing process, instituting a policy that could allow reporters to be sued for publishing leaked info. Nearly every credentialed media outlet left the building in response. In December, the agency’s briefing room reopened for a new press corps composed of right-wing outlets and media personalities like One America News, Turning Point USA’s media arm, and Laura Loomer.

To celebrate, Loomer and two other reporters posted photos of themselves at their new Pentagon desks. Each claimed theirs was previously occupied by The Washington Post’s correspondent.