{"id":94385,"date":"2026-09-22T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/?p=94385"},"modified":"2026-09-21T23:45:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T05:45:57","slug":"networks-suspend-pool-coverage-of-trump-after-white-house-bars-cnn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/networks-suspend-pool-coverage-of-trump-after-white-house-bars-cnn\/","title":{"rendered":"Networks suspend pool coverage of Trump after White House bars CNN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Networks<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The major television networks on Monday suspended their pooled coverage of President Trump, breaking a practice that dates back decades after Mr. Trump refused to allow CNN to serve as a pool representative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move was an extraordinary escalation amid a showdown between the Trump administration and the White House press corps, which began last week when the president barred journalists at CNN, MS NOW and Politico from entering the White House grounds. Those three outlets sued on Monday to regain access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite Mr. Trump\u2019s years of lawsuits and threats against the news media, archrival news organizations have rarely undertaken this kind of collective action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five networks \u2014 ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC \u2014 have long shared the responsibility of providing television coverage of the president, splitting the financial costs and distributing footage that is carried by news outlets worldwide. The networks perform their duties on a rotation, and CNN had been scheduled to provide coverage for Mr. Trump\u2019s travel on Monday to the United Nations General Assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is extremely unusual for a president to travel or hold public events without being accompanied by representatives from the television pool. The president\u2019s activities on Monday were still covered by print, radio and wire journalists, along with still photographers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEffective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the president,\u201d Bryan Boughton, the Washington bureau chief at Fox News, wrote in a note to television pool members that was obtained by The New York Times. (Mr. Boughton is the acting chair of the television pool consortium; the networks rotate the chairmanship on a quarterly basis.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis follows the White House\u2019s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties,\u201d Mr. Boughton wrote. \u201cThere will be no replacement pool put in place.\u201d He said the networks would continue to provide pool coverage for events involving other prominent officials including the vice president and members of Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The five networks later issued a joint statement, writing: \u201cThe public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a gesture of support, The New York Times, The Washington Post and other outlets said they would hold off publishing or distributing still photographs taken as part of the White House pool coverage on Monday until midnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Network cameras filmed the president in the 1950s, when aides to President Dwight D. Eisenhower maintained editorial control of the footage, according to Kathryn McGarr, a media historian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Administrations often work hand in hand with the television networks, since the arrangement is mutually beneficial. Journalists have an opportunity to preserve the historical record and be present for any unusual event \u2014 like when a gunman shot President Ronald Reagan in Washington in 1981 \u2014 while the White House receives high-quality footage of the president that can be quickly distributed around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the South Lawn offered a glimpse at what can happen when that system breaks down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ceremony was the formal opening of Mr. Trump\u2019s new helipad, a project of which he speaks often. No major TV network sent cameras or boom microphones to the event. The White House provided its own YouTube stream, but the audio was garbled and the president\u2019s remarks were almost entirely inaudible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TV networks have historically been reluctant to yield their ability to film the president, even as Mr. Trump has menaced individual reporters and curtailed access to certain news outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is some precedent: In 2009, the major networks balked when the Obama administration tried to bar Fox News from participating in a Treasury Department event; the administration backed down. That incident did not involve barring a news outlet from entering the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Trump\u2019s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico caught some of his own aides off guard. The president abruptly announced it in a Truth Social post on Friday, saying he was fed up with what he described as \u201cpurposely negative stories.\u201d Journalists from the three organizations had their badges confiscated when they arrived at the White House complex on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued the Trump administration on Monday, calling Mr. Trump\u2019s actions a violation of their First Amendment rights. Experts say the ban is unlikely to withstand legal scrutiny. They have also asked a judge to temporarily lift the ban until the courts decide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Trump, for his part, doubled down on his decision in a social media post on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish,\u201d the president wrote. \u201cIt is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n