Posted on 03/01/2025 6:47:55 AM PST by MtnClimber
Left to right: Reagan Reese ’22, Phillip Wegmann ’15, and Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell ’24 are White House correspondents. Courtesy | Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
What’s new about reporting on the Trump administration for Philip Wegmann? The RealClearPolitics White House reporter and 2015 Hillsdale grad is drinking more coffee.
How many cups per day?
“My mother might read this,” Wegmann deflects. “I can’t tell you.”
Wegmann is one of three Hillsdale graduates covering the White House who say the new Trump administration is more energetic than the last. Wegmann began covering the White House in 2019, Reagan Reese Gensiejewski ’22 joined him for the Daily Caller in 2023, and Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell ’24 started for the Daily Signal earlier this month.
Briefings during the Biden presidency “lacked excitement,” Reese said. But now reporters line both aisles to the back of the briefing room.
“Everybody kind of viewed the Biden presidency as a lame duck presidency,” Reese said. “There was really no energy in the room. But now, under the Trump administration, I’ve never seen so many people in the briefing room before.”
All three Chargers attended the White House press briefing this week. Wegmann was seated five rows back with Reese a couple of rows behind him. Mitchell stood in an aisle four rows from the front.
“It’s really, really exciting to have three Hillsdale grads in there,” Mitchell said. “I wonder if there’s any other college there that has three.”
The makeup of the White House press corps is changing, too. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the White House press office would begin choosing which reporters would be in the smaller, rotating “press pool.” Since the 1950s, the White House Correspondents Association, not the president’s press office, selected reporters for the press pool.
Reese said on X that she heard “gasps” when Leavitt made the announcement, which will allow the Trump administration to choose which journalists travel with the president and report in venues too small for the whole press corps.
“Now there’s definitely an administration that’s willing to play ball with the Daily Caller,” Reese said. “We are able to break the news of what executive orders the president is going to sign or the introduction of the new West Wing faith office. I’m also putting a lot more stock in the White House briefings and opportunities of asking President Trump questions.”
At only 22 years old, Mitchell is one of the youngest reporters in the White House. She said the Trump administration has been more willing to allow newer conservative outlets into the press briefing room.
“We’ve had a presence in the White House before, but it’s really exciting to be able to go back now because we were effectively kicked out by the Biden administration,” Mitchell said. “Being able to be in an administration that is so much more open to conservative media and new media is really great for the Daily Signal.”
Mitchell minored in journalism at Hillsdale and served as editor-in-chief of The Collegian during her senior year.
“I love journalism and decided I wanted to do it as a career entirely because of the Hillsdale Collegian and the Dow Journalism Program,” Mitchell said. “I had so many incredible opportunities at Hillsdale.”
At Hillsdale, Reese navigated her commitments to the softball team and the journalism program, working at The Collegian as an assistant editor for the news section and as design editor.
“You don’t need to be the person who’s the most involved in The Collegian or the radio department or the journalism program to have a very successful career post-graduation,” Reese said. “With my softball schedule, I was able to do as much as I could with The Collegian and with the radio department as possible.”
Wegmann never held a staff position at The Collegian. He took political journalism, advanced writing, and sportswriting classes during his senior year with John J. Miller, director of the Dow Journalism Program. But, the political economy major did not minor in journalism.
“Learn from my mistake,” Wegmann said. “If there’s any kid at Hillsdale right now who is debating whether or not to go to The Collegian pitch meeting, go to it. I didn’t. I wish I had.”
While Wegmann said while he is adjusting some of his reporting tactics for the new White House, he said his mission remains the same.
“The administration changed. Its priorities are different. You have a new cast of characters,” Wegmann said. “But as a reporter, the strike zone did not. It doesn’t matter if they’re a Republican or a Democrat, a conservative or a liberal, your job as a reporter is to bring what’s done in the dark out into the light.”
I think the changes made to the press briefing process was a great idea.
How about -- "Here's what happened yesterday. Here's what happened today." It's not hard.
But most Big Name Journalists have a different approach: "Here's how I will persuade you to hate Trump today."
“journalists” of today start and finish every article with ORANGE MAN BAD. It’s all they know.
Because the big name journalists and media are complicit in the Get Trump game since he came down the escalator.
How many DC cabal Swampers have marriage or sibling/family ties to ‘Media’?
It’s one big happy family at times.
Hillsdale is an amazing institution.
Hillsdale is one of the very few excellent institutes of higher learning...they also do not take any taxpayer monies.
“I think the changes made to the press briefing process was a great idea.”
And long overdue. Hopefully those changes will also be applied to other areas like WH correspondence dinners, presidential debates, etc.
They get money from taxpayers, not from our government, proving that schools do not need federal money.
Why do they charge traditional college rates? In that way, they are not conservative.
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