White House Press Corps

The White House press corps consists of those journalists from various news media who primarily cover the presidency. In covering the president as well as other administration officials, they rely on daily briefings and news releases for information, ideally hold officials accountable, and give the White House communication entrée into the presidential news cycle by deadline.

Journalists have covered the president from the nation's beginning, along with other news from the nation's capital. As the power of the presidency grew in the 19th century, two factors led to a White House press corps. First, the number of Washington correspondents increased from four, during James Madison's administration, to several hundred by the 20th century and to almost 10,000 by the 21st century. Because of this, journalists had ...