The Periodical Press Galleries (PPG), along with the Daily Press Galleries, Radio and Television Galleries, and Senate Press Photographers’ Gallery, comprise the four media galleries of the United States Congress. The United States Congress is the only legislature to divide its media into distinct press galleries.[1] Collectively known as the Periodical Press Galleries, the PPG maintain two separate offices in the House and Senate wings of the Capitol in order to “assist Members of Congress, Congressional staff, and bona fide correspondents covering Congress, with media logistics and press-related concerns.”[2][3]
The House Periodical Press Gallery operates under Rule VI of the Rules of the House of Representatives, and the Senate Periodical Press Gallery under Rule XXXIII of the Standing Rules of the United States Senate. Under these rules, the Speaker of the House and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration maintain final authority over all the press galleries.
The main purpose of the Periodical Press Galleries is to credential correspondents from magazines, newsletters, non-daily newspapers and online publications. In turn, this provides correspondents media access to:
Prior to the creation of the congressional media galleries, the House and Senate handled the issuance of press credentials. Each house passed regulations independently of one another to limit lobbyists and claim agents of the Revolutionary and Civil War pensioners from obtaining press credentials.[4] The House first adopted a resolution in 1838 that required correspondents to have written permission from the Speaker of the House, and that they identify their employer. The Senate adopted a similar stance in 1841, permitting only bona fide correspondents access to a special press gallery. Further regulations were passed as attempts to curtail lobbying and the corruption of journalism, but scandals persisted.[5] The House and Senate eventually conceded to reporters’ demands for self-regulation by allowing for the first of the congressional media galleries to be created, the Daily Press Gallery. This press gallery was to be supervised by a body of reporters called the Standing Committee of Correspondents, who first published Rules for Membership in 1879.[6]
The increasing appearance of trade journals and business magazines following World War I, along with the widespread prevalence of radio as a news medium, demonstrated the need for additional media galleries.[7] In 1933, radio correspondents from an independent news service of CBS applied for admission to the Daily Press Galleries.[8] Since it did not represent daily newspapers or have any association with daily telegraphic services, the Standing Committee of Correspondents denied the application.[9] Under the same reasoning, the Standing Committee also denied correspondents from Oil News Bureau and Time in 1937. In 1939, Fulton Lewis Jr. of Mutual Broadcasting System also applied to the Daily Press Gallery and was subsequently denied. He conferred with the Senate and House Rules Committees and was successful in receiving approval for a Radio Gallery in that same year.[10] This helped lead the way for final approval of a Periodical Press Gallery in 1941.
Since its inception, the Periodical Press Galleries have been supervised by the Executive Committee of Periodical Correspondents, a body of seven Periodical Press Gallery members elected every session of Congress. The Executive Committee is tasked with reviewing press credential applications. Publications must meet the criteria specified in the Rules of the Periodical Press Galleries and receive a majority vote of the Executive Committee members in order to be formally admitted to the Gallery. The Executive Committee also addresses any concerns of its membership, including press access, workspace, and Gallery employees.
| Chairman | Year(s) | Publication |
|---|---|---|
| Henry Ralph | 1941-1944 | Oil & Gas Journal |
| Gilbert Stewart | 1945-1946 | Newsweek |
| Frank McNaughton | 1947-1952 | Time |
| George Cullen | 1953-1962 | Bureau of National Affairs |
| W.B. Ragsdale | 1963-1964 | United States News |
| Neil MacNeil | 1965-1966 | Time |
| W.B. Ragsdale | 1967-1968 | United States News (U.S. News & World Report) |
| Earl Abrams | 1969-1970 | Telecasting Publications |
| Donald Smith | 1971 | U.S. News & World Report |
| David Secrest | 1971-1972 | McGraw-Hill |
| Robert Horowitz | 1973-1974 | Army Times |
| Samuel Shaffer | 1975-1976 | Newsweek |
| Dale Taft | 1977-1978 | Kiplinger Washington Editors |
| Gerald Parshall | 1979-1980 | U.S. News & World Report |
| Henry Hubbard | 1981-1982 | Newsweek |
| Donald Bacon | 1983-1984 | U.S. News & World Report |
| Rebecca Pearl | 1985-1986 | Bureau of National Affairs |
| Martha Craver | 1987-1988 | Army Times |
| Richard Cohen | 1988-1989 | National Journal |
| Doug Harbrecht | 1990-1991 | McGraw Hill |
| Hays Gorey | 1991-1992 | Time/Warner |
| Alexis Simendinger | 1993-1994 | Bureau of National Affairs |
| Rick Dunham | 1995-1996 | McGraw Hill |
| Craig Winneker | 1997-1998 | Capital Style (Roll Call) |
| Richard Maze | 1999-2000 | Army Times |
| Cheryl Bolen | 2001-2002 | Bureau of National Affairs |
| Lorraine Woellert | 2003-2006 | Business Week |
| Heidi Glenn | 2007 | Tax Notes |
| Richard Cohen | 2007-2011 | National Journal, Politico |
| Heather Rothman | 2011–2016 | Bureau of National Affairs |
| Leo Shane III | 2016–2022 | Sightline Media Group |
| Katherine Tully-McManus | 2023 | Politico |
When the Gallery was established in 1941, periodical correspondents were assigned six seats in the House Gallery, designated by Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn. From 1941 to 1946, periodical correspondents relied on only these seats to observe and report on the House floor debates. In 1946, physical office space was obtained in the House wing of the Capitol Building, where correspondents were given access to a telephone booth and room to set up typewriters and hang hats.[7] One year later, the Executive Committee of Periodical Correspondents was successful in securing seats in the Senate Gallery. Room S-320 in the Senate wing of the Capitol Building was also obtained for a Senate Periodical Press Gallery office, where it has remained since.[5] The House Periodical Press Gallery office space was later reassigned in 1971 to H-304 of the Capitol Building, its current location.
Each Gallery office is managed by a Gallery director, formerly known as a superintendent, who is appointed by the Executive Committee of Periodical Correspondents and approved by the Speaker of the House or Senate Sergeant at Arms. Gallery employees are non-partisan and bound by the rules of their respective houses regarding ethics and employment.[11]
| House Gallery Director | Year(s) | Senate Gallery Director | Year(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| William Perry | 1946 | William Perry | 1946-1973 | |
| Paul Ridgely | 1946-1953 | Roy McGhee | 1973-1991 | |
| Delmar Malkie | 1953-1954 | James Talbert | 1991-2000 | |
| Don Womack | 1954-1956 | Edward Pesce | 2000–2015 | |
| Clarence T. Day | 1956-1972 | Justin Wilson | 2016–Present | |
| Jeanne Hundley Ordway | 1972-1974 | |||
| David Holmes | 1974-2002 | |||
| Robert Zatkowski | 2002–Present |
In the 77th session of Congress, Gallery membership included 18 publications and 42 credentialed correspondents.[12] Membership has grown from magazines and non-daily newspapers to include new forms of print and online media. Newsletters were first approved in 1974, email-based publications in 1993, fax publications in 1994, CD-ROM publications in 1995, and online publications in 1996. The number of credentialed correspondents has grown over the years. In the 112th session of Congress, there were over 1,200 credentialed periodical correspondents representing 162 different publications.[13] A large proportion of credentialed publications still represent the types of trade publications that were instrumental in founding the Periodical Press Galleries.[14]
The Rules of the Periodical Press Galleries were created in the same year as its inception, using some of the earlier regulations passed by Congress as a model for membership rules. The Executive Committee designed the Rules to protect the interests of Congress and the integrity of the press corps, as well as prevent groups with lobbying ties from using press credentials to influence legislation.[5]
The Rules have undergone only slight revisions since they were first created. Extending membership to newsletters, Rule II was amended by the Executive Committee in 1972 and approved in 1973 by the Speaker of the House and the Senate Rules Committee, to include “or by subscription.”[15] Rule II was again amended in 1979 in order to extend membership to publications published by non-profit organizations as long as they met all of the criteria put forth in Rule II.[16] Since 1979, the Executive Committee has periodically formed subcommittees to reexamine the Rules and their application. Each time, these subcommittees concluded that the Rules remained relevant and made no recommendations for their revision.
Rule I[17]
Rule II
Rule III
Rule IV
Rule V
In 1973, Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, applied for membership to the Periodical Press Galleries. The Executive Committee denied the publication membership on the grounds that the publication was not “owned and operated independently of any government, industry, institution, association, or lobbying organization” (Rule II). Consumers Union subsequently appealed to the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and the Speaker of the House. The Senate Committee on Rules affirmed the Executive Committee’s decision, and the Speaker of the House took no action.
Consumers Union then sued the Executive Committee in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, claiming that the denial of its membership application violated its First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights. The District Court held in favor of Consumers Union. That decision was later reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, who held that credentialing members of the Periodical Gallery was a function protected by the Speech or Debate Clause, because it falls within the “legitimate legislative sphere.” The Court reasoned that the Executive Committee was acting pursuant to the Rules of the House of Representatives and the Standing Rules of the Senate which are promulgated pursuant to the Rulemaking Clause of the Constitution, and thus that the Executive Committee acted pursuant to authority “which the Constitution places with the jurisdiction of either House.” Also, the court reasoned that the actions of the Executive Committee were an “integral part of the legislative machinery,” and therefore an “integral part of the deliberation process.” Accordingly, the suit was dismissed because the Speech or Debate Clause rendered the Executive Committee immune from suit.[18]
In 1986, the Executive Committee denied the publication Executive Intelligence Review admission to the Periodical Press Galleries under the Rule II criteria. The Speaker of the House and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration did not respond to requests to overturn the Executive Committee’s decision. The correspondent for Executive Intelligence Review then filed suit and asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to declare Rule II unconstitutional. The Court dismissed the case on the basis of Consumers Union, the Speech or Debate Clause, and separation-of-powers concerns. The Court found that the Rules of the House of Representatives fully empowered the Executive Committee to determine eligibility for press credentials, and that given the Rulemaking Clause, Courts are without jurisdiction to second guess such eligibility requirements or the exercise of that power by the Executive Committee.[19]
Vigdor Schreibman, a previously credentialed journalist who launched his own website entitled Federal Information News Syndicate (FINS), applied for credentials to the Periodical Press Galleries in 1996. The Executive Committee denied him credentials under Rule II, concluding that Schreibman was not a full-time journalist, he did not receive a salary, and that FINS was not published for profit. Schreibman appealed to the Speaker of the House and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, but neither took any action. Schreibman then filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which dismissed the suit as foreclosed by Consumers Union. Schreibman appealed, but the D.C. Circuit Court held Consumers Union indistinguishable and therefore controlling.[20]