White House officials have barred CNN reporters from traveling with President Donald Trump on a Saturday trip to Tennessee, despite a judicial order temporarily restoring the network’s White House access.
The move marks the latest escalation in a dispute over press access. Last week, the Trump administration sought to ban CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, accusing the outlets of providing only negative coverage.
After journalists from the three outlets were blocked from entering the White House complex, a federal judge ordered their access to be temporarily restored, ruling that the administration’s ban was likely unconstitutional.
Despite the judge’s ruling, the White House released a schedule on Friday evening for the president’s trip to Tennessee that excluded CNN from the rotating press pool. The pool is a select group of journalists who travel with the president to provide collective coverage due to limited space on the aircraft.
Instead of the standard TV network rotation, the White House schedule listed only a “Secondary TV” correspondent and crew from Lindell TV, a pro-Trump outlet run by the president’s close ally, businessman Mike Lindell.
The exclusion of CNN occurred even as the network’s general White House access remained under review. Earlier this week, the top five major U.S. broadcasters—ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, and NBC—made a rare, joint decision to halt their pool coverage of the White House in protest of the restrictions.
“The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organisation because it objects to its reporting,” the joint statement from the five networks read.
CNN declined to comment on the latest exclusion when contacted by AFP on Friday, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
