NewzIn a rare move, the top five US broadcasters said they were halting White House 'pool' coverage, in solidarity with CNN. (EPA Images pic)WASHINGTON: US television networks staged an extraordinary revolt Monday when they effectively boycotted coverage of president Donald Trump in protest at his decision to ban three leading outlets from the White House.CNN, MS NOW and Politico also went to court after Trump on Friday ordered them to be barred, as the 80-year-old Republican stepped up his years-long assault on the US media.As a result of the row, Trump's opening of his cherished new White House helipad and his trip to the United Nations General Assembly were proceeding without live television coverage.In a rare move, the top five US broadcasters said on Monday that they were halting "pool" coverage of the White House - where a broadcaster films on behalf of all television outlets for the day - in solidarity with CNN.CNN had been scheduled to serve Monday as the White House TV pool."The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting," ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC said in a statement.The result is an almost unprecedented test of wills between the Trump administration and the press, in a critical week during which Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting the White House.Media 'like cancer'There will be no live TV of Trump's meetings with foreign leaders at the UN in New York, an annual forum that is closely watched around the world.Meanwhile the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the giant granite helipad on the South Lawn was only streamed on the White House's website - and Trump's comments were completely inaudible.Several photo news organisations working at the White House, including AFP, decided to delay the release of photographs of Trump at the helipad in solidarity with the three banned media organisations.Trump was unrepentant, branding the media a "cancer" and a threat to national security."The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish," Trump said on his Truth Social network."It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America."Vice president JD Vance - a former CNN commentator before his move into politics -…
The White House press pool, a rotating cast of news outlets that covers the president, is now a battleground over free speech rights between President Donald Trump and the media. On Monday, the issue headed for the courts as CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued the administration over being barred from the White House and, they contend, denied their First Amendment rights. CNN was banned from its scheduled pool duty for the day — and the pool announced that it was canceling its coverage of Trump.
“Effective today, there would be no network pool coverage of the president’s events,” the television pool of five broadcasters wrote in an email to its subscribers. “This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties. There will be no replacement pool put in place.” But the pool is a proxy for the wider fight over whether the president, or anyone, can control the content of news reports — a type of free speech, pillar of American democracy.
The developments marked an extraordinary escalation in Trump’s ongoing efforts — from the courts to the Pentagon to the White House — to restrict news reporters and outlets that he finds insufficiently supportive. Again and again during Trump’s second presidential term, his irritation has focused on the rotating group of reporters who cover the president as representatives of the larger press corps. The practice ensures coverage can be disseminated broadly since not all journalists can be with the president at any given time due to space constraints.
But the pool also is an institution steeped in tradition and anchored in the Constitution’s guarantee of a free press. The relationship between elected American leaders and the journalists who hold them accountable is designed to be adversarial. That’s essential for knowing what the president and his administration are — or are not — doing in the United States’ name, with taxpayer money.
Here’s a look at various aspects of the White House pool. There may be constitutional issues at play CNN is one of the major news networks, including ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC, that are part of a TV pool managed by the networks’ editorial leaders. The networks rotate coverage of presidential events.
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