Whether it’s a flurry of interviews on and off the record or deliberate “leaks” to the press, a President has many avenues for providing information to the Press. The tables below provide a breakdown of the ways different Presidents have chosen to interact with the media.
The majority of Americans who name Fox News as their main source of political news say that it is part of the mainstream media (61%). However, a similar percentage of those who name NPR as their main source of political news say that they see NPR as not being in the mainstream media (28%).
In a regular news conference, the President meets with members of the press in a formal setting and responds to questions. A variation on this is a Joint conference, in which the President appears together with a guest.
Ahead of his meeting with Vladimir Putin, President Trump says he’s hopeful for “constructive conversations” but that it isn’t up to him to make a peace deal. A former NATO supreme allied commander calls the summit a publicity effort.
Ahead of the 2025 midterm elections, 52% of Americans say that they are following news about the presidential candidates fairly closely or very closely. The figure is higher for Democrats than Republicans. In addition, more women are following the campaigns very closely than men. In terms of specific sources, CNN is followed most closely by both Democratic and Republican news followers, while Fox News is most widely cited by Republicans.