Sean Spicer, who will serve as the White House press secretary in the Trump administration, said he’s considering changing daily press briefings and may do away with them consistently being live and on camera.
During an interview with former Obama administration officials David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs, Spicer said Wednesday that President-elect Trump has challenged his staff to think up new ways of doing business in the White House and that includes the press briefings, which are currently held each weekday and are on camera, live.
“I think one of the things that the president-elect has challenged us with is, figure out if you can do it better,” said Spicer during an appearance at the University of Chicago. “Is there a better value for the American people or a better outcome?”
He said he is in talks with former White House press secretaries as well as journalists on possible changes to the briefings that may allow more access to not just traditional national journalists but also bloggers and regional reporters.
Some in the national media have worried what press access would be like under the new administration, given Trump’s often hostile posture against the media.
Spicer said that changes to the daily briefing could include some days doing it off camera or having questions submitted from reporters around the country for answers that may make the briefings “more substantive.”
“Just to be clear, there will be a daily something with the press corps every single day,” he said. “Whether it’s a gaggle or an on-camera thing or it’s an embargoed — but I think the point that I’m trying to make, just to put a pin in this, is to say … is there something that can be more valuable?”
