In a chart obtained Wednesday by NewsBusters (see image right), the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) will unveil a new seating chart for the Brady Briefing Room that awards seats to conservative media outlets such as the Daily Wire and new media outlets like Axios, moves up the New York Post, and preserves liberal media outlets holding a grip on the front rows.
An email to members of the WHCA informed them of the changes, emphasizing “changes were made to 33 or the 49 seats,” “7 [outlets] are receiving their first ever [assigned seat],” and “any outlet that consistently fails to fill its seat could face suspension or total loss.”
The email adds the chart “will take effect on Monday, February 9, 2026,” replacing the previous one that had been in place since late 2021. To see that seating arrangement, click here.
The new chart shows that, for the first time, the Daily Wire will share an assigned seat in the back row with fellow first-timers The Telegraph and Black Press USA. Three of the other first-timers — Axios, NOTUS, and Semafor — will also split a seventh-row seat. iHeartMedia is the remaining debut outlet and will slot in the back row as well, sharing with The Boston Globe.
By NewsBusters’s count, those dropping out are the defunded Voice of America (VOA), McClatchy newspapers (which shuttered its D.C. bureau), Cheddar (RIP), Dallas Morning News, and Yahoo! News.
Notable omissions include a slew of conservative media outlets that have risen to higher prominence in both the Briefing Room and press pool: Daily Signal, One America News, Real America’s Voice, and Turning Point USA’s Frontlines.
The first row will remain the same as, going right to left facing the podium, will be NBC, Fox News, CBS, AP, ABC News, Reuters, and CNN. The second row will remain the same except for one change with CBS News Radio dropping back to the third row and the wire service Agence French-Presse (AFP) moving up a row.
As such, row two will now read, going the same direction: AFP, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, NPR, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and USA Today.
By row three is when the real deck shuffling begins as it will now read: Politico, Fox News Radio, CBS News Radio, New York Post, ABC News Radio, Daily Mail, and White House Foreign Press Group.
Also in the letter to members, the WHCA said “[t]he seating review committee” was led by WHCA board member Jacqui Heinrich and “spent several months combing through the hundreds of applications” and “weighed a variety of factors including an outlet's reach, long-term commitment to White House coverage, service to colleagues through WHCA pooling, and ability to dependably fill a seat as assigned.”
Stay tuned for more analysis as this post will be updated.
To see the full letter sent to WHCA members, click here.
