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US news networks staged an extraordinary protest against the White House ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico on Monday, effectively boycotting all coverage of President Donald Trump.
Journalists from the three outlets were denied any access to the White House grounds on Saturday and had their passes confiscated.
CNN, meanwhile, was removed from its pool duties, which are shared by the five major networks. It had been scheduled to cover the president’s trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
In an email to members, the TV pool said there would be no replacement coverage, and other networks would suspend their own pool coverage indefinitely.
“Effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President,” said the email from the current chair of the pool, Fox’s Washington bureau chief, Bryan Boughton. “This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties.”
“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,” ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC said in a statement.
Other news outlets also took steps in solidarity. A number of news organisations, including The AP, AFP, Washington Post and The New York Times, decided not to publish photographs of presidential events on Monday.
As a result of the row, Trump’s opening of his cherished new White House helipad and his trip to the United Nations General Assembly proceeded without live television coverage.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the giant granite helipad on the South Lawn was only streamed on the White House’s website, and Trump’s comments were completely inaudible due to the lack of pool microphones.
On Monday evening, the White House launched a streaming channel, “Trump TV,” which it said would show “top videos, major remarks, and must-see highlights streaming 24/7 and updated in real time.”
When it went online, it was showing archive footage of Trump delivering a speech on July 3 at Mount Rushmore.
Vice President JD Vance accused the news outlets of disseminating “effectively far-left propaganda.”
“They can still report. They still have the access to free speech. They’re just not going to get an office in the White House anymore,” he told reporters.
The outlets announced on Monday that they have decided to sue the Trump administration. “This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles,” the organisations said in a court filing.
Additional sources • AP, AFP