US media networks suspend pool coverage after White House bans specific outlets

NEW YORK – Major television networks agreed to suspend their pooled coverage of President Donald Trump after the White House refused to allow CNN to serve as a pool representative on Sept 21.

The move is an extraordinary escalation of the Trump administration’s ongoing showdown with the White House press corps, in the wake of the president’s move to bar journalists at CNN, MS NOW and Politico from entering the White House grounds. Those three outlets said on Sept 21 they would sue to regain access.

Five networks – ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC – have long shared the responsibility of providing television coverage of presidential events, splitting the financial costs and distributing footage that is carried by news organisations worldwide. The networks perform their duties on a rotation, and CNN had been slated to provide coverage for Trump’s travel on Sept 21 to the UN General Assembly.

The president’s activities on Sept 21 are still expected to be covered by print, radio and wire journalists, along with still photographers.

“Effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President,” Bryan Boughton, the Washington bureau chief at Fox News, wrote in a note to television pool members on Sept 21, which was obtained by The New York Times. (Boughton is the acting chair of the television pool consortium; the networks rotate the chairmanship on a quarterly basis.)

“This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties,” Boughton wrote. “There will be no replacement pool put in place. All other pool coverage will continue as normal.”

“We will provide updates as this situation develops,” he added.

It is extremely rare for a president to travel or hold public events without being accompanied by representatives from the television pool.

On Sept 18, Trump escalated his clashes with the news media by announcing a ban on the three news outlets, saying he was fed up with what he described as “purposely negative stories”. Journalists from the three organisations had their badges confiscated when they arrived at the White House complex on Sept 19.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico said in a joint statement on Sept 21 that they would sue the Trump administration for barring them from the White House, saying it was a violation of their First Amendment rights to cover the president. Experts say the ban is unlikely to withstand legal scrutiny.

Trump defended his decision in a social media post on Sept 21.

“The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish,” he said. “It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America.” NYTIMES

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.