The Trump administration is shaking up the White House press corps in some truly interesting ways. One is the implementation of “influencer briefings,” during which White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt takes questions from nontraditional journalists and social media influencers.
In principle, this is a fantastic idea. Millions of people now get their news online, from YouTube to TikTok to Instagram, and engaging directly with creators in these spaces will help the Trump administration reach younger audiences and further break up the legacy media monopoly on White House access. In practice, however, these influencer briefings are turning into sycophantic chat sessions that discredit the idea of “new media” as a serious form of independent journalism.
For example, YouTube star Tim Pool used his opportunity occupying a “new media” seat during a regular press briefing to ask Leavitt a hard-hitting question, inviting her to “comment on the unprofessional behavior” of legacy media. Not exactly fierce, independent journalism from the YouTuber, who also wore a beanie and a sweatshirt to the White House after criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for not dressing up during his visit.
It’s not just Pool. Influencer Debra Lea used her opportunity to congratulate the White House on an “incredible 100 days” in office and ask how Trump is going to cement his “historically high approval rating.” This was not just obsequious but also inaccurate — in reality, many polls show Trump’s approval rating at historic lows for this point in a presidency.
A day in my life going to the White House for an Influencer Press Briefing
pic.twitter.com/ZSmUu7tIvc
— Debra Lea (@thedebralea) April 30, 2025
Meanwhile, TikTok star Link Lauren used his chance to interview Leavitt to ask her about being a young working mother and how she does it all. While Leavitt’s work-life balance is surely admirable, it’s not exactly a pressing issue amid global trade wars, massively consequential immigration moves, and so many other important things happening that actually affect people.
Others used their platform to ask “questions” in which they called Leavitt articulate, brilliant, and inspirational. Yes, seriously.
You get the idea. All of this is frankly embarrassing and not remotely productive. A few of the influencers invited to these briefings so far, such as Winston Marshall and Chrissy Clark, used the opportunity to ask interesting and substantive questions. But, in large part, these briefings have yielded little to no new information and only given fuel to Trump critics to mock the cartoonishly softball briefings.
This may be partly because of a near-total lack of intellectual and political diversity among the influencers who have thus far participated. Almost all of them have been very right-wing, pro-Trump commentators and content creators.
Where are the progressive influencers? Where are the nonpartisan or actually independent content creators? It’s possible they haven’t asked to attend, but it’s also possible the Trump administration is selecting mostly highly sympathetic participants. Still, even the pro-Trump influencers who have appeared at these briefings should be asking more substantive and tough questions — they owe it to their audiences.
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The rise of new media was inspired by declining trust in legacy media, in part because of their obvious bias and partisan slant toward the Biden administration. The way corporate journalists attempted to downplay and cover up former President Joe Biden’s obvious cognitive decline, from echoing the Biden White House in dismissing real videos as “cheap fakes” to personally testifying to his supposed behind-the-scenes acuity, will go down in history as a disgrace.
But new media were supposed to be something different: fierce, independent, and nonpartisan. Instead, at least so far, the new media “journalists” featured by the Trump administration are using their time in the spotlight to do PR for this White House in a way that puts the legacy media’s support for the Biden administration to shame.
Brad Polumbo is an independent journalist and host of the Brad vs Everyone podcast.