The vice president says Americans should not need expensive credentials or powerful connections to tell the nation’s stories
By Lucretia Hughes
WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance used the White House briefing room Thursday to deliver a message that reaches far beyond Washington: The power to report the news no longer belongs exclusively to corporate networks, national newspapers and credentialed gatekeepers.
It belongs to the people willing to seek the truth and tell the story.
For me, that message is personal.
I am the media now.
Vance made his remarks during the first official White House press briefing in 40 days. He called first on Breitbart News reporter Nick Gilbertson, who was seated in the New Media Seat created during former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s tenure.
Gilbertson asked whether the Trump administration would continue giving independent and nontraditional outlets access to White House officials.
Vance said it would.
“You should not have to have a fancy credential or a lot of money to tell a story to the American people,” Vance said.
He credited digital technology with allowing more Americans to obtain information and share stories without first securing the approval of a corporate newsroom or a powerful Washington connection.
Vance said legacy outlets and Washington institutions had treated independent media as a threat for too long. The administration, he said, views broader access as a way to democratize information and protect the principles behind the First Amendment.
He also acknowledged that many Americans do not believe their lives, concerns or values are represented accurately by traditional media.
The administration intends to continue granting new-media organizations access alongside traditional outlets, according to Vance. Full White House briefing transcript
That recognition matters because Americans have spent years watching major media organizations decide which stories deserve attention, which voices are legitimate and which facts may be discussed.
People living with the consequences of failed policies were often told that their experiences did not matter. Parents raising concerns about their children’s schools were dismissed as extremists. Citizens asking questions about government power were accused of spreading misinformation. Law-abiding gun owners were portrayed as the problem while violent criminals disappeared from the narrative.
Independent media stepped into that void.
We did not wait for an invitation.
We turned on cameras, opened microphones, created websites, wrote articles and used social media to speak directly to the American people. We covered the hearings, court cases, elections and community struggles that national outlets ignored or reduced to political talking points.
That is exactly what I have done.
Through Real News with Lucretia Hughes, News at Noon and more than 1,000 published articles, I have built a platform centered on faith, family, country and the truth as I see it.
I did not wait for a network executive to approve me. I did not wait for someone in Washington to decide that my voice was worthy of being heard.
I started speaking.
I report and comment as a wife, mother, grandmother, Christian, Second Amendment advocate and American who has personally experienced the consequences of crime and government failure. I bring questions shaped by real life—not by a corporate script handed down from an office hundreds of miles away.
That does not mean independent media should receive a free pass.
Access carries responsibility.
New-media reporters must verify information, correct errors and distinguish confirmed facts from rumor. We must ask difficult questions of politicians we support as well as politicians we oppose. If independent journalists simply become cheerleaders for one party, we will repeat the very failures that caused Americans to lose trust in legacy media.
The goal is not to replace one protected group of gatekeepers with another.
The goal is to break the gate open.
A free press is not truly free if only wealthy corporations can reach public officials. A First Amendment right that exists on paper but is controlled in practice by access, money and political connections is not equally available to every American.
The Constitution protects freedom of the press. It does not say that freedom belongs only to CNN, Fox News, The New York Times or The Washington Post.
It belongs to the local reporter covering a school board meeting. It belongs to the mother livestreaming a public hearing. It belongs to the podcaster interviewing a candidate, the citizen filming government misconduct and the independent writer following a story that everyone else abandoned.
It belongs to me.
Vance’s comments also represent a challenge to the White House. Welcoming alternative media cannot be limited to friendly outlets or favorable questions. Real transparency means allowing independent journalists to ask direct questions, demand evidence and hold officials accountable.
Access should not be a reward for loyalty.
Breitbart reported that Vance promised to build upon Leavitt’s New Media Seat and continue giving non-legacy outlets opportunities comparable to those offered to traditional reporters. Breitbart News report
That promise should be kept.
The old media establishment no longer controls the entire conversation. Americans now have choices, and reporters must earn their trust story by story.
Technology handed ordinary citizens a microphone. Courage teaches us to use it. Integrity determines whether people continue listening.
I am not waiting to be chosen.
I am not asking permission to tell the truth, defend constitutional liberty or represent Americans whose voices are routinely dismissed.
I am the media now—and every citizen willing to do the work, verify the facts and speak without fear can be the media, too.
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