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.
As you’ll see, the big losers with moves towards the back included al-Jazeera, AP Radio, CBS News Radio, theGrio, National Journal, PBS, Real Clear Politics, CQ Roll Call, and Salem Radio Networks.
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 left to right 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 (unchanged), Fox News Radio (up one row), CBS News Radio (back one row), New York Post (up one row), ABC News Radio (unchanged), Daily Mail (up one row), and White House foreign press (unchanged). ABC News Radio and the foreign seat remained in the same row, but moved seats.
The most notable and welcome change is a promotion for the New York Post, which is usually represented by the great Steven Nelson or, as of late, new hire Emily Goodin.
Row four included even more changes with not a single outlet retaining the same place they had last time: Los Angeles Times/Independent (up one and two rows, respectively), The Hill (unchanged), MS NOW/Telemundo (unchanged), Fox Business/Univision (unchanged), CNBC/PBS (unchanged and back one row, respectively), Time (up one row), and American Urban Radio Networks (AURN)/AP Radio (unchanged and back one row, respectively).
Here, the Los Angeles Times went from a solo seat to sharing, The Hill moved over two ticks to the left, MS NOW/Telemundo moved two spots right, CNBC partners up with PBS (who’s lost a solo seat), and AURN moved one spot to the right aisle.
Row five will now consist of: Newsmax (up one row), Hearst/Gray Media (both up two rows), NewsNation (up two rows), regional press (unchanged), Christian Science Monitor/BBC (unchanged and up two rows, respectively), Washington Times (unchanged), and Bloomberg Government (unchanged). Of these, all are new seating arrangements excluding Christian Science Monitor and the rotating regional press seat.
While Newsmax and NewsNation could have certainly been closer to the front given their recent growth, we’re pleased to see their extensive coverage of the White House acknowledged by the WHCA.
Row six featured butts in different seats except for the last one which sadly means S.V. Dáte will still be a thing: Spectrum (up one row), The Guardian/Daily Caller (both up a row), theGrio/Scripps (back two and up one row, respectively), National Journal (back a row), Washington Examiner (unchanged, but shifts three seats), Real Clear Politics (back a row), and HuffPost (unchanged).
This batch yields mixed results. On the plus side, Daily Caller’s Reagan Reese is promoted from the last row and Washington Examiner stands pat, but the negative includes Real Clear Politics’s Philip Wegmann being pushed back.
Speaking of the last row, that will consist of the aforementioned Daily Wire/Black Press USA/Telegraph and Axios/NOTUS/Semafor seats, which marks a huge promotion and recognition of the hard work put in by Daily Wire’s Mary Margaret Olohan, Axios’s Alex Thompson, and Semafor’s Shelby Talcott.
The remaining six spots will go to CBN/EWTN (back one and unchanged, respectively), iHeartMedia and Boston Globe (new entry and unchanged), CQ Roll Call/Financial Times (back two rows and unchanged, respectively), Salem Radio Networks/Al-Jazeera (both back a row), and Washington Blade/Newsweek (both unchanged). Of those, only EWTN stood pat.
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.”
To see the full letter sent to WHCA members, click here.
