Gone in five days: why the White House press secretary's chair is so precarious

The White House press secretary is one of the most important public-facing jobs in any administration. Yet it is a post with no written job description, no required qualifications and no vetting by Congress. And as the most recent press secretary found out, you can be fired from the position just as quickly as you were hired.

Katie Zacharia's short time in the role has brought renewed attention to the high-profile job. She was fired last week, leaving just five days after starting the job.

The trouble began at her very first briefing. Just two days into the job she faced scrutiny over how she handled questions from reporters. Zacharia was visibly nervous during the briefing, she took only a handful of questions and she largely stuck to a script of talking points.

But it was describing herself as a lawyer that earned her the extra scrutiny. It was eventually revealed that Zacharia had failed the California bar exam, which meant that she was not an attorney. Five days after starting, she was out.

Press secretaries are not required to be attorneys, but they do have to be able to hold their own with reporters. Former Pentagon press secretary John Kirby, who served during both the Obama and Biden administrations, has described that two-sided duty.

Kirby said: 'You are expected to be the president's voice and sometimes the president's face on issues on a daily basis, which means you have to have access to the president. You have to know what the president is thinking about, whatever the policy issue is, but you also are accountable to the American people.'

In his view, a press secretary's job is to 'be honest' and tell Americans as much and as quickly as possible while also taking tough questions from the press. In practice, maintaining that balance is the hardest part of the job.

Sean Spicer, one of several White House press secretaries during Trump's first administration, had a combative relationship with the press. He regularly sparred with members of the media. Challenged about the size of the crowds at Trump's inauguration, he told reporters 'sometimes we can disagree with the facts', a remark that gained him notoriety.

The television show 'Saturday Night Live' took particular glee in Spicer's animosity toward the press. Actor Melissa McCarthy, portraying Spicer, mimicked their contentious interactions with lines such as 'I came out here to punch you in the face.'

The role is not one designated by Congress; it follows nearly 100 years of presidential custom and tradition. According to the White House Historical Association, by the late 1800s reporters were beginning to cover the White House as part of a regular beat. In 1929, President Herbert Hoover appointed the journalist George Akerson to speak on his behalf; Akerson is regarded as the first official White House press secretary.

Since then, 37 people have held the role. In 1993, Dee Dee Myers became the first woman press secretary. In 2022, Karine Jean-Pierre made history as the first Black press secretary in the White House as well as the first openly gay person in the role.

The gravest chapter attached to the job carries James Brady's name. While travelling with then-President Ronald Reagan in 1981, press secretary James Brady was shot during an assassination attempt on the president. The briefing room where press secretaries stand behind the podium and take questions from reporters is named after Brady.

A briefing is like 'intellectual chess', former press secretary Ari Fleischer, who served under George W. Bush, has previously said. In his view, the hardest part of the job is knowing what not to say. Zacharia's five-day tenure remains the latest example of that hard reality.