A Media Matters review of White House press briefings held so far in President Donald Trump’s second administration found that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called on right-wing media outlets 41% of the time, and 4 of the 5 reporters called on most were from right-wing outlets.

The press briefings now include a “new media” seat which the White House has used to amplify more right-wing voices. While the White House attacks traditional press freedoms, the press briefings are now littered with biased questions from the administration's most staunch supporters. 

Media Matters found that during the 16 press briefings held from January 20 to April 22, the White House called on right-wing outlets 41% of the time (110 out of 267). Leavitt gave the remaining opportunities to ask questions to non-ideological (52%, or 139 times) and foreign (7%, or 18 times) outlets.

Reporters at right-wing outlets also made up 4 out of 5 of the reporters called on most. While CBS News' Jennifer Jacobs was called on the most, with 10 occasions, all the other reporters in the top 5 were from conservative outlets. The Daily Caller's Reagan Reese was called on 9 times, while Fox News’ Peter Doocy, The Daily Wire’s Mary Margaret Olohan, and the New York Post’s Diana Glebova were each given 8 chances to ask questions.

The conservative media outlets White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called on most were Fox News (15), the New York Post (12), The Daily Caller (10), The Daily Wire (8), and Newsmax (7). Among nonideological media, Leavitt called on CBS News (19), CNN (14) , ABC News (13) , NBC News (11), and Bloomberg (9) most.

The White House elevated smaller, far-right media over many established outlets, calling on One America News (5 times) and The Gateway Pundit (5) more than The Washington Post (4) and The Associated Press (3).

As the Trump administration works to cut federal funding from public broadcasters PBS and NPR, Leavitt has boxed them out, having called on a journalist from each network only 1 time.

• LindellTV’s Cara Castronuova (called on 4 times) claimed Trump looked “healthier than ever before” and asked if he “is eating less McDonald’s.” She asked: “Will you guys also consider releasing the president’s fitness plan? He actually looks healthier than ever before, healthier than he did eight years ago, and I’m sure everyone in this room could agree. Is he working out with Bobby Kennedy and is he eating less McDonald's?” [Fox News, America Reports, 4/11/25]

• Castronuova thanked the administration for its “election integrity executive order” and asked why Democrats are so opposed to election integrity. She stated, “Thank you for taking my question. I wanted to first and foremost thank the administration for the election integrity executive order because so many journalists for four years were banned from talking about this very subject. So thank you to the administration for that. My question is, yesterday, President Trump when signing the order said that there is more to come when it comes to election integrity. Would that include same-day voting and hand-counted paper ballots? And why are Democrats so against election integrity measures like, obviously, proof of citizenship when it comes to voting in a United States election?” [YouTube, 3/26/25]

• Real America’s Voice correspondent Brian Glenn (who has been called on 3 times) complimented Leavitt’s appearance and performance before asking if Trump’s recent “incident” with the president of Colombia showed “powerful respect” for him. He said: “You look great. You're doing a great job. You talked about transparency and some of us in this room know how just transparent President Trump has been the last five or six years. I think you’ll do the same.” Glenn then asked: “My question is, do you think this latest incident with the president of Colombia is indicative of the global, powerful respect they have for President Trump moving forward, not only to engage in economic diplomacy with these countries but also world peace?” [YouTube, 1/28/25]

• The Daily Caller’s Reagan Reese (who has been called on 9 times) asked Leavitt, “Does the president intend to permanently cut off funding to NGOs that are bringing illegal foreign nationals to the country, such as Catholic Charities?” Catholic Charities and other nongovernmental organizations that have long assisted the federal government in welcoming refugees to the United States have recently been the target of right-wing media attacks. [Media Matters, 2/29/24; Fox News, America Reports, 1/28/25]

• The Gateway Pundit’s Jordan Conradson (who has been called on 5 times) asked Leavitt if the administration would comment on “leftist state and local officials defying ICE and Trump's deportation efforts.” Conradson stated: “Thank you so much for having me here answering a question. So, I want to talk more about the success that ICE is having in finding these violent criminal aliens, some of them being sexual predators. But, my friend Ben Bergquam reports that the Chicago mayor and the Illinois governor are preventing ICE agents from going into jails and prisons to enforce detainers against illegal aliens. In Maryland, the attorney general has also put out a memo hindering local police cooperation with ICE. Does the administration have any comment on leftist state and local officials defying ICE and Trump's deportation efforts?” [Fox News, 1/31/25] 

• One America News’ Daniel Baldwin (who has been called on 5 times) claimed Trump “turned the water back on in California” and asked about “the importance of Trump’s actions to help people in California.” Trump ordered the release of billions of gallons of water from two California dams, suggesting that water could have prevented the deadly wildfires in the state. Experts say not only does the move not help the suppression of wildfires, but that it also could hurt local farmers during the summer months. [Fox News, America Reports, 2/5/25; Media Matters, 2/7/25]

The administration has moved to limit the press access of outlets Trump disagrees with while amplifying right-wing outlets. It barred entry to The Associated Press when the news wire refused to call the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America,” relenting only after a court order — and only partially. It established a “new media” seat in the press briefing room, whose occupant gets to ask the first question at briefings; it has been populated by both new media ventures and established right-wing media, including Breitbart and The Daily Wire.

The White House has also wrested control of the press pool — the reporters assigned to follow Trump and share information with other outlets — away from the White House Correspondents' Association and used that control to cut out newswires, another blow to the AP. This eliminates direct access for hundreds of outlets, including local news, that rely on newswires.

And now the Trump administration is threatening to change the seating chart in the briefing room, which currently gives the front two rows to major broadcast networks and papers, including CBS, NBC, ABC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.

All of this builds on the trend set by the first Trump administration and then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer in 2017. Over 48 press briefings in a similar time period that year — January 23, 2017, through May 15, 2017 — Media Matters found that the reporters Spicer called on most were likewise from conservative-leaning outlets. And like Leavitt, Spicer elevated conservative-leaning outlets: 5 of his top 10 called upon — Fox News Channel, Fox News Radio, Newsmax TV, Fox Business Network, and One America News Network — were conservative-leaning. The current team led by Leavitt is continuing to emphasize traditional right-wing media while also turning to newer outlets like The Daily Wire and The Daily Caller.

By elevating more fringe right-wing outlets, Leavitt gives fewer opportunities for questions that hold the administration to account and more chances for sycophantic commentary. As Real America’s Voice’s Brian Glenn told CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, “I’m pro-Trump. The questions I ask, in my opinion, are going to help highlight the good things that he’s doing for America.”

Media Matters reviewed transcripts and video of all 16 press briefings conducted by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt from January 20, 2025, through April 22, 2025. We excluded press gaggles.

We counted instances when the press secretary called upon journalists to ask questions. We identified journalists by reviewing video of the briefings. In one instance, we were not able to identify the journalist called upon. We excluded that instance from the analysis.

We determined an outlet's ideology through the outlet's own self-identification or its public affiliation with openly ideological organizations or parent companies. We identified the following outlets as right-wing: Breitbart, The Daily Caller, the Daily Mail, The Daily Signal, The Daily Wire, The Epoch Times, Fox Business Network, Fox News Channel, Fox News Radio, The Gateway Pundit, the John Fredericks Radio Network, LindellTV, New Tang Dynasty News, the New York Post, Newsmax TV, One America News Network, Real America's Voice, RealClearPolitics, Rumble, Timcast, Turning Point USA, The Washington Examiner, the Washington Reporter, The Washington Times, and World News Group.