Major US TV networks suspend White House pool coverage as CNN, Politico, and MS NOW file federal lawsuit
USA: Major US television networks have suspended their pooled coverage of President Donald Trump following the White House’s ban on CNN, Politico, and MS NOW. This left no network TV footage of Trump boarding Air Force One or arriving in New York for the UN General Assembly as the press freedom dispute escalated into a federal lawsuit and a new White House streaming channel.
According to the BBC, Fox News Washington bureau chief Bryan Boughton, who holds a rotating role organising TV crews covering the White House, wrote in an email stating that “effective today, the TV pool will not be covering designated as pool coverage” of Trump. The move followed the White House preventing CNN from fulfilling its pool duties for Trump’s trip to New York, with Boughton stating there would be “no replacement pool put in place.”
BBC added that the New York Times and Washington Post also announced they would not share still images from Trump events on Monday, compounding the coverage blackout. Trump’s ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new Marine One helipad on the White House South Lawn was streamed on the White House’s own site, but his comments were inaudible.
Lawsuit filed
CNN, Politico, and MS NOW filed a joint lawsuit on Monday in US District Court in Washington, seeking to challenge the credential revocations in court.
“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,” the three outlets said in a joint statement announcing the legal action, as quoted by the BBC.
The three organisations said they would sue to “defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports.”
Trump TV launches
Shortly after the ban, the White House launched its own streaming channel, called Trump TV, operating a 24-hour feed of clips of the president.
The launch positions the administration as an alternative content provider to the outlets it has excluded, following through on the logic of the bans with a direct media operation of its own.
Trump appeared unbothered by the boycott at a press conference following a meeting with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who told the president all members of the media would be welcome. Gesturing at the assembled press, Trump said: “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.”
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Netizens react
The networks’ decision to suspend pool coverage drew widespread support online, with many commenters expressing relief that the press had finally acted collectively.
“Something we don’t often see, [people] taking a stand,” one commenter wrote.
“It’s about time to stand together,” another added.
Others were more pointed and sceptical. “At this point, whatever the government says, I believe the opposite,” one commenter wrote.
One sarcastically took aim at the possible implications if the media ignored Trump in the first place: “Imagine if all the news outlets had ignored him in 2015. We’d probably have flying cars by now.”
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