Periodical Press Galleries of the United States Congress

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.Ritchie, Donald. Press Gallery: Congress and the Washington Correspondents. Harvard University Press, 1991. 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.”About the Gallery. House Periodical Press GalleryAbout the Senate Periodical Press Gallery. Senate Periodical Press Gallery

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.

Press accreditation

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:

Gallery space inside the House and Senate chambers Gallery workspace the State of the Union address the Presidential Inauguration Joint sessions of Congress Gold Medal ceremonies State Funerals all other special Congressional Events In addition, the Periodical Press Galleries assist with credentialing for the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

Creation of the media galleries

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.Byrd, Robert C. The Senate 1780-1989, Addresses on the History of the U.S. Senate. Vol. II. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. 1982. 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.MacNeil, Neil. Memorandum on the Origins of the Senate and U.S. Periodical Press Galleries and their Rules. 3 December 1973. 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.About the Gallery. House Daily Press Gallery

The Periodical Press Galleries

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.Marbut, F.B. News from the Capitol: The Story of Washington Reporting. Southern Illinois University Press, 1971. In 1933, radio correspondents from an independent news service of CBS applied for admission to the Daily Press Galleries.Jackaway, Gwenyth. Media at War: Radio’s Challenge to the Newspapers, 1924-1939. Praeger, 1995. Since it did not represent daily newspapers or have any association with daily telegraphic services, the Standing Committee of Correspondents denied the application.Schuck, Peter H. “Press Gallery: Radio News Men Seek Entree to Congress.” Newsweek 11 November 1933: 26. 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.Gate Crasher. Time Volume 33: 8 May 1939, 28. This helped lead the way for final approval of a Periodical Press Gallery in 1941.

The Executive Committee of Periodical Correspondents

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.

List of the Executive Committee of Periodical Correspondents Chairmen

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 AffairsLeo Shane III2016–2022Sightline Media GroupKatherine Tully-McManus2023Politico

House and Senate Periodical Press Gallery spaces

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. 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. The House Periodical Press Gallery office space was later reassigned in 1971 to H-304 of the Capitol Building, its current location.

Gallery employees

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.Statement of David Secrest, chairman of the Executive Committee of Periodical Correspondents before the Select Subcommittee on Non-Essential Employees, House Administrations Committee, 16 August 1972.

House and Senate Periodical Press Gallery directors

+ 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 2000–2015Clarence T. Day1956–1972Justin Wilson2016–present Jeanne Hundley Ordway 1972–1974 David Holmes 1974–2002 Robert Zatkowski 2002–present

Gallery membership

In the 77th session of Congress, Gallery membership included 18 publications and 42 credentialed correspondents.Official Congressional Directory, 1940-1941, 77th Congress. Washington, DC: Joint Committee on Printing United States Congress, United States Government Printing Office, 1941. 737-740. 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.Official Congressional Directory, 2011-2012, 112th Congress. Washington, DC: Joint Committee on Printing United States Congress, United States Government Printing Office, 2012. 1057-1078. A large proportion of credentialed publications still represent the types of trade publications that were instrumental in founding the Periodical Press Galleries.Grim, Ryan. “Washington’s Trade Press: An Army at the Back of the Media Gaggle.” Politico 26 February 2007.

History of the rules of the Periodical Press Galleries

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.

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.”Official Congressional Directory, 1973, 93rd Congress. Washington, DC: Joint Committee on Printing United States Congress, United States Government Printing Office, 1973. 916-917. 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.Official Congressional Directory, 1979, 96th Congress, First Session. Washington, DC: Joint Committee on Printing United States Congress, United States Government Printing Office, 1979. 901-902. 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.

Rules of the Periodical Press Galleries

Rule IRules of the Periodical Press Gallery. House Periodical Press Gallery