U.S. networks drop Trump coverage after CNN White House ban
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Donald Trump (Photo: REUTERS/Kylie Cooper)
Major U.S. TV networks have agreed to suspend joint coverage
of President Donald
Trump after CNN was denied access to the White House pool on Sept. 21, The
New York Times reported.
“The move is an extraordinary escalation of an unfolding showdown between the Trump administration and the White House press corps, which began last week when the president barred journalists at CNN, MS NOW [formerly MSNBC], and Politico from entering the White House grounds,” the report said.
The three media organizations said they planned to sue to regain access.
Five major U.S. television networks — ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and NBC — have jointly provided television pool coverage of events involving the president on a rotation basis.
“The networks perform their duties on a rotation, and CNN had been slated to provide coverage for Mr. Trump’s travel on Monday to the United Nations General Assembly,” The Times wrote.
In response, the other four networks announced they would drop media coverage immediately.
“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 message reviewed by the NYT.
“This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties. There will be no replacement pool put in place. All other pool coverage will continue as normal.”
On Sept. 18, Trump accused CNN, MS NOW, and Politico of spreading “fake news” and said he did not want to see journalists from the outlets in the White House. The president also threatened to expand the ban to other media organizations.
Last year, the Trump administration removed Reuters, AP,
and Bloomberg News from the permanent pool of journalists covering the
president, allowing them to attend briefings only occasionally. The AP is
currently involved in litigation over the decision.
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