Five months into the second Trump administration, journalists responsible for covering the White House are navigating a more difficult environment, from changes to the press pool rules to verbal attacks and the threat of lawsuits related to coverage.
One newsroom that continues to draw attention from administration officials is NOTUS, a D.C. publication from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Allbritton Journalism Institute.
They first went viral last month when Trump told NOTUS reporter Reese Gorman to “get a real job” after asking a question about the “big, beautiful bill.” The following week — after breaking the news that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” report cited studies that didn’t exist — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied their reporting by saying the errors were only formatting. (Read the Institute’s interview with the reporters who broke the MAHA story.)
And this month, Leavitt lashed out again at White House correspondent and reporter Jasmine Wright for asking a question about the military parade.
Beyond these viral moments, NOTUS has been delivering coverage on Washington through their relaunched daily newsletter. To learn more about their strategy for covering Trump 2.0, the Institute reached out to Wright and veteran reporter Evan McMorris-Santoro.
What are the major differences you are seeing in terms of covering the White House during Trump 2.0? What advice do you have for other journalists this time around?
McMorris-Santoro: The first Trump administration was really about that famous Salena Zito quote about taking the president seriously, but not literally. It was hard to know what was real on any given day and what was just an admittedly enthralling but mostly silly drama.
This term is about taking Trump seriously and literally. Campaign promises even some of his supporters doubted would ever happen are in the process of happening. This term is a lot more about understanding the MAGA movement’s intentions and paying close attention to how that’s being implemented throughout policy and politics.
At NOTUS, we are publishing a ton of deep policy stories and close looks at the way the other branches of government are reacting to those changes. Our newsletter tries to make it easy to eat all those vegetables every day.
My advice for other journalists: Consume, consume, consume. I spend a lot of time reading trade association newsletters and Reddit threads for government employees and issue experts to get the view of what some of these policy changes mean in their worlds. I also follow a lot of podcasts and Substacks to get immersed in the political theory behind the actions the administration is taking.
This is a White House of action, and it’s important to stay focused on what is actually happening and also why it is.
There have been significant changes to the press pool and briefing room this term. Can you describe how you’re navigating the new rules and culture?
Wright: I think the rules have changed but the culture is pretty much the same. Most people who show up in the briefing room every day are hardworking journalists who want to get to the truth.
For NOTUS, having access to the new media seat and being in the new rotation is a plus because we’re not part of the pool rotation, though we’re cognizant of the perils that come with officials being able to pick and choose who covers them.
This means we take the questions we pose very seriously — because the goal is always to shed light on what the administration is doing and thinking. So we don’t seek to grandstand but we don’t shy away from asking tough questions either.
What advice do you have for journalists interacting with combative government officials?
Wright: Be firm in your questions and stand by your reporting. It’s never stupid. If you have the information to back it up and have done your homework to know the issue inside and out, no one can take that away from you.
It’s also important to keep an open mind — you may have one piece of the story but you may not have it all.
And lastly, try to have some grace! Don’t accept disrespect and speak your mind if you feel it, but the officials who you talk to on a daily basis typically have someone to answer to, too. So sometimes, their response isn’t even about you.
President Trump has signed 165 executive orders since taking office five months ago. How do you decide what to focus on each day? What are your go-to resources for staying up to date on the latest issues?
McMorris-Santoro: One of the greatest things about NOTUS is we have this staff of fellows who are bringing new energy and approaches to journalism. I asked them for help on this.
Emily Kennard mentioned DCInbox.com, a project that collects and collates all the public statements congressional offices send out, “to keep up with what lawmakers are talking about, not just on X,” she explains. Nuha Dolby loves Data Is Plural, which collects published datasets around the internet. John T. Seward regularly checks OAF Nation on IG, which collects investigative reporting on global conflict. (This is war fighter-focused news, and he warns: “There’s a lot of dark humor memes” that might offend civilians.)
My take is that not enough people are talking about Major Garrett’s show on CBS News 24/7, the free streaming network. This is a deeply wonky, plugged in, and intelligent show that is always informative and entertaining. It’s a real politics news show in a world where that term has come to mean “well-paid pundits yelling at each other.”
Wright: The easiest way to answer this question is: It depends! Sometimes we are following the news cycle because it’s important and necessary to keep our readers informed.
Unlike other outlets, we aren’t beholden to the news cycle. We have the bandwidth to march to our own beat and report out our stories in a deeper way. As a result, people come to us not only when they want to know more about an issue that’s dominating the headlines — and why they should care — but also when they want to know something new that no one else has.