The five television networks that make up the White House TV press pool have joined forces to effectively boycott pool coverage of President Donald Trump, a dramatic step taken in response to the president’s ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico.
The move was spelled out in a memo sent to pool subscribers, which was shared by CNN’s Brian Stelter. White House TV pool chair and Fox News Washington Bureau Chief Bryan Boughton wrote, “Effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President. This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties. There will be no replacement pool put in place.”
In practical terms, the TV pool will sit out events designated as pool coverage of the President, and no other pool will take its place. The memo ties the decision directly to the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties.
The pool is made up of CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox. Together, the five networks issued a joint statement condemning the Trump ban. “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government,” the networks said. “No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”
Reacting in real time to the breaking news, CNN’s John Berman and Kaitlan Collins laid out the implications. “We’ve never seen anything like this before,” Berman said.
“No,” Collins replied. “And that statement there is really important, John, because it means that when the president does anything today, there will be no TV camera with the president that is broadcasting and sharing this footage of what a president does on a daily basis.”
Collins added that with the new statement from the TV pool and the Correspondents’ Association, there will be no camera present on behalf of the group that serves as the TV pool covering the president. She called it a major moment in White House coverage and the presidency, one in which the president will not have that access with him, and said it carries major implications for the free press.
President Trump defended the ban in a post on Truth Social early Monday. “The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish,” Trump wrote. “It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America. It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control. It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!”
The ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico, and the pool’s response to it, has left the White House and the five pool networks, CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox, on opposite sides of the dispute, with the networks condemning the ban and the president insisting his target is the fake news, not the free press. Today, there will be no TV pool camera with the president.
