Times and Post decline to share Trump event images
Major US television networks suspended their pooled coverage of President Donald Trump on Monday in response to the White House’s decision to bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the building. Trump had announced the ban on Friday, accusing the three organizations of writing “fiction or lies” about his administration. The companies said their reporters were denied access to the building on Saturday. The broadcast networks that normally share coverage of presidential events said they would not participate in pool coverage of Trump on Monday, and several print outlets declined to share still images from his events that day.
The result was a news day with no network television footage of Trump boarding Air Force One or arriving in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly. Trump also took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new Marine One helipad on the White House South Lawn. The event was streamed on the White House website, but his comments were inaudible.
Shortly after the credential ban, the White House launched Trump TV, a 24/7 streaming channel that operates a feed of clips of the president.
The three banned outlets filed suit on Monday in US District Court in Washington, seeking to restore their press credentials. A joint statement announcing the legal action said: “Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting. Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”
Fox News Washington bureau chief Bryan Boughton, who currently holds a rotating role helping to organize media TV crews covering the White House, wrote in an email seen by the BBC that “effective today, the TV pool will not be covering designated as pool coverage” of Trump. The message said the move followed the White House “preventing” CNN from fulfilling its pool duties for Trump’s trip to New York and that “there will be no replacement pool put in place.”
Trump did appear on television later Monday following a meeting with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani told the president that all members of the media would be welcome at the press conference. Trump responded: “It’s interesting because, they said they were going to boycott me, but they never boycott me, so I wasn’t very worried about that. Look at all that press.”
The pool system involves media organizations sharing material to save on costs and space when broadcasting presidential events to the American public.