Donald Trump's White House debuts Podcast Row as an attempt to engage "new media outlets"

On Thursday, March 27, Donald Trump's White House debuted Podcast Row. Several conservative podcasters received invitations to the White House to take part in the event. As per The Verge’s 28 March report, the White House plans to do this on a regular basis.

The same outlet said that addressing the event, White House Deputy Communications Director Kaelan Dorr said:

“Bringing in new media outlets has obviously been a priority of this administration and we will explore all options that allow us to reach as many Americans as possible.”

The launch of Podcast Row coincided with President Donald Trump's emphasis on granting access to "new media" outlets. In the past two months, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has allowed several podcasters, content producers, and non-mainstream news organisations to utilize the White House press briefing room.

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Podcast Row by Donald Trump's White House is going to be a recurring event

On Thursday, the Trump Administration launched Podcast Row, an event aimed at engaging alternative media by giving them hours of previously unheard-of access to top Trump Administration officials.

According to the same Verge piece, the new government has been using new media, such as podcasters, streamers, and other internet influencers, to reach devoted audiences since Donald Trump returned to the White House.

While talking about the podcast, Karoline Leavitt said on an X video on March 27:

“Hey everybody, today is Podcast Row here at the White House and our team has gathered a room full of podcasters with cabinet officials, White House officials who are talking to them about the president and his agenda..”

She continued:

“And I bet you, the people in that room have much more viewers than CNN and the legacy media, just saying. We’re proud to welcome them to the White House.”

In an X video promoting the event, Leavitt further stated:

"I bet you that the people in that room have more views than CNN and legacy media."

However, as per The Wrap’s report from the same day, Leavitt stated that Donald Trump has the authority to choose which media outlets would participate and who are allowed to challenge the president.

The same Verge report stated that, according to NewsNation correspondent Libbey Dean, Outgoing Counsellor Alina Habba was among the administration's attendees, along with other officials Lee Zeldin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Linda McMahon, Scott Bessent, and Russ Vought.

Podcaster Breanna Morello, Canadian YouTuber David Freiheit, and Natalie Winters from Bannon's War Room were among the online personalities who streamed from the room.

As per the Wrap report, the place in the Brady Briefing Room was reserved for correspondents from non-legacy "new media outlets.” Additionally, the Podcast Row event is a big step towards increasing the right-wing podcasters' access to and proximity to the Trump White House.

Nevertheless, the Verge report further alleged that the Associated Press sued the White House after it suspended their press credentials in recent months for failing to change the Gulf of Mexico's name.

The AP was also prohibited from using the term "Gulf of America" in the Oval Office and other parts of the White House after Donald Trump signed official documents to change the name.

Furthermore, the White House declared that they will personally choose media outlets from the traveling press pool. On the other hand, the event came some hours after Donald Trump issued an executive order targeting the Smithsonian Institution, which runs over 20 museums and research facilities in New York City and Washington, DC.

According to a BBC report from March 27, the order instructed the vice-president to "eliminate improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology" from the institute's museums, centres, and the National Zoo in Washington.

Additionally, the order by Donald Trump also instructed the interior secretary to restore government properties that "have been improperly removed or changed in the last five years to perpetuate a false revision of history," such as parks, memorials, and statues.