White House press briefings to go virtual

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Monday that beginning later this week, he will take questions at his daily press briefing via Skype from reporters based outside of Washington.

Spicer said four of the so-called “Skype seats” will be available for each daily briefing, a development that he said “can benefit us all by giving a platform to voices that are not necessarily based here in the beltway.” The Skype seats will be available to reporters based 50 miles or more outside of Washington who work for organizations who do not have a permanent “hard pass” to the White House.


The press secretary, delivering his first official daily briefing, also winked at the controversy he created over the weekend when he delivered a falsehood-laden statement arguing that President Donald Trump’s inauguration last week was the most well-attended of all time.

“As you know we are all about big viewerships and large audiences here. So I want to tell you about an effort that we’re undertaking here in the press briefing room to offer up more access to a group of journalists from around the country,” Spicer said in introducing the new plan. “We’re excited to open up into the field and fold here a diverse group of journalists from around the country who may not have the convenience or funding to travel to Washington. I think this can benefit us all by giving a platform to voices that are not necessarily based here in the beltway.”

Trump’s administration had promised to shake up the White House’s relationship with the press, perhaps moving the media and the briefing itself out the West Wing or rearranging the seat assignments in the briefing room. More generally, Trump's campaign, transition team and now his administration have complained regularly about the tenor of its coverage. Spicer said Monday that regular negative coverage about Trump, be it his chances of winning the election, the qualifications of his cabinet nominees or the size of his inaugural crowds, is "demoralizing."

The idea of allowing reporters to ask questions of the press secretary at the daily briefing is nothing new and has been promoted in the past by NBC News anchor Chuck Todd, whose terse conversation with counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway on Sunday's "Meet the Press" made headlines when Conway defended characterized the falsehoods from Spicer on Saturday as "alternative facts."

"There are reporters whose beat (might be agriculture) and their publication is based in Omaha. But they don't have a Washington bureau, but they may have questions," Todd told a Poynter podcast last week. "That's the type of reporter who should have the opportunity to have a 'Skype seat' once a week."