Donald Trump Names Press Secretary, Other Top Communications Posts

President-elect Donald Trump named the Republican National Committee's Communications Director Sean Spicer as his press secretary, a release from his transition team said.

Trump also said that Hope Hicks will be his director of strategic communications, Jason Miller will be his director of communications and Dan Scavino will be his director of social media.

The four staffers were some of his closest aides and fiercest defenders during his presidential campaign.

“Sean, Hope, Jason and Dan have been key members of my team during the campaign and transition. I am excited they will be leading the team that will communicate my agenda that will Make America Great Again,” Trump said in the statement.

The appointment of Spicer, in particular, should ease some fears among White House journalists that the Trump administration was going to upend some longstanding traditions, such as a daily press briefing. While Spicer doesn't pull many punches in criticizing negative coverage, he is a familiar face to many of the reporters who will soon be hearing from him on a daily basis.

Spicer told Fox News, for example, that Trump won't be "blacklisting" media organizations from covering the White House, like he did on the campaign trail.

He has, though, suggested shaking up some of the hierarchy in the briefing room in terms of seating charts and proximity to the front of the room.

“For too long, I think that we’ve had this very stale operation, which is all the mainstream media folks get front row seats, and it’s a question of, here are the broadcast networks, here’s The Washington Post, The New York Times,” Spicer told Politico recently.

“What about some of the conservative media having some of the prized seats in there?” he continued. “What about having some of the top bloggers being able to come in?

Image via Gage Skidmore, Flickr, used under Creative Commons