Donald Trump Wouldn't Be the First President to Rethink Press Briefings

President-elect Donald Trump continues to make headlines out of his relationship with the news media, tweeting criticisms of various news outlets on a regular basis, holding an off-the-record meeting with journalists on Sunday and fielding rumors that he may tweak the format of White House press briefings.

Presidents have taken questions from reporters on average every 15 days during the past three administrations, according to a recent NPR analysis of American Presidency Project data, while the “unofficial White House statistician” Mark Knoller of CBS News says the longest President George W. Bush went without talking to the press was 82 days. For President Obama, the number rose slightly to 86.

Meanwhile, Trump hasn’t held a press conference since July 27.

But, while Trump may take the gap between conferences to lengths unseen in recent years—if his transition is any indication—the inclination to keep the press at more than arm’s length is about as old as America is.