U.S. TV Networks Boycott White House Pool in Solidarity with CNN After Trump Ban

WASHINGTON — Major U.S. television networks suspended White House pool coverage on Monday and will no longer send camera crews to President Donald Trump’s events, in solidarity with CNN, after the administration barred journalists from three outlets.

The decision by the five networks that make up the television pool — ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News, in addition to CNN — means the widely shared joint television feed will no longer cover most of Trump’s activities.

The decision was communicated in a September 21 email from Bryan Boughton, Fox News’ Washington bureau chief and chairman of the television pool, which he sent to members. “This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from carrying out its assigned pool duties,” Boughton wrote in the email seen by USA TODAY. “No replacement pool will be deployed.”

The networks’ withdrawal comes after journalists from MS NOW, CNN and Politico were barred from entering the White House over the weekend, as the ban announced by Trump on Friday took effect. Journalists’ badges were deactivated or confiscated.

The White House pool, which rotates daily, consists of a small group of journalists with tight access to the president during events. It includes a camera crew from one network, which broadcasts a television feed shared with the other networks.

The White House broadcasts its own feed of Trump’s events — and will continue to do so — but the television networks rely on the pool feed for their video content. With the networks withdrawing from pool coverage, no television crew will accompany Trump as he travels to New York for the UN General Assembly on Monday.

The White House did not comment beyond Trump’s statements on the media ban.

Separately from the pool action, CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued the Trump administration in federal court on Monday in an effort to regain access to the White House after their journalists were barred over the weekend.

The lawsuit argues that Trump’s ban on the three outlets denies journalists their First Amendment rights to a free press under the Constitution and their right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Vice President JD Vance, speaking with reporters before departing for Greensboro, North Carolina, denied that Trump’s action amounts to a media ban — even though Trump himself has described it as a “ban on the free press.”

“He is not banning media. What he is doing is saying we will not give you special access to the White House if you engage in what is effectively propaganda,” Vance said, claiming that 92% of CNN, MS NOW and Politico’s coverage of Trump is “negative.”

“That is not representative of the American people. It is not representative of public opinion,” Vance added.

Trump, in a Monday post on Truth Social, defended the ban. “The White House is not launching an attack on the free press, something I cherish. It is launching an attack on FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like a cancer in our beloved United States.”

Source: USA Today