ABC News launches White House press briefing analysis show

ABC News launched a new live digital program called “The Briefing Room” on Monday afternoon, which the network said in an announcement will focus on “White House press briefings and the latest political reporting from Washington.”

ABC chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl, political director Rick Klein, senior White House correspondent Cecilia Vega and congressional correspondent Mary Bruce are the featured talent on the online program. 

Coverage will include “news and announcements from the press conference with a play-by-play rundown of the topics discussed from the podium and context on the current political climate.”

{mosads}Karl, 49, was recently elected to be the next president of the White House Correspondents Association for 2019–2020. 

White House press briefings have recently become mostly off-camera events, with networks often restricted to broadcasting audio-only briefings after the briefing is finished. 

The on-camera briefings earlier in the Trump administration saw ratings soar, with cable news audiences often eclipsing the broadcast networks in total audience.  

The ABC foray into online political programming comes after the success of CBSN, CBS News’s streaming video channel that launched in 2014. 

Broadcast network competitors NBC and Fox have 24/7 cable news networks in MSNBC and Fox News, respectively, to serve as platforms for politics-heavy content. 

ABC’s “The Briefing Room” will be streamed on ABCNews.com, the ABC News app, Facebook and on its YouTube channel. 

Its first broadcast generated more than 14,500 views on the network’s YouTube channel.