Major U.S. television networks ceased their pooled coverage of President Donald Trump on Monday after CNN, Politico, and MS NOW were denied White House access.
Trump announced the ban on Friday, accusing the outlets of publishing “fiction or lies” about his administration. He said their reporters were denied entry to the building on Saturday.
The three outlets announced they would sue the Trump administration to “defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports.”
Shortly thereafter, the White House launched its own streaming channel, Trump TV, offering a 24‑hour feed of presidential clips.
Several other U.S. news organizations have said they will not take part in pooled coverage, and some—such as The New York Times and The Washington Post—have pledged not to share still images from Trump’s events on Monday.
Consequently, there was no network television footage of Trump boarding Air Force One or arriving in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
Trump also participated in a ribbon‑cutting ceremony for the new Marine One helipad on the White House South Lawn. The event was streamed on the White House website, though his remarks were inaudible.
The president later appeared on television after meeting with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who told him that all media members would be welcome at the press conference.
Trump remarked, “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 allows media organizations to share material, reducing costs and conserving broadcast space for presidential events.
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 the TV pool would no longer cover Trump’s events designated as pool coverage.
He said the decision followed the White House’s prevention of CNN from fulfilling its pool duties during Trump’s trip to New York and that no replacement pool would be established.
The three media organizations barred from the White House filed a lawsuit on Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
In a joint statement announcing the lawsuit, they 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.”