Several major US television networks have stopped participating in pooled coverage of President Donald Trump, following the White House decision to bar CNN, Politico and MS NOW from its premises.
Trump announced the restrictions on Friday, accusing the three organisations of publishing what he described as “fiction or lies” about his administration. The outlets said their journalists were subsequently denied access to the White House on Saturday.
CNN, Politico and MS NOW have now filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing that the government should not be able to determine which news organisations can report from the White House.
The dispute escalated further after the White House launched its own streaming service, Trump TV, offering a continuous feed featuring footage and clips of the president.
Other major media organisations have also declined to take part in pooled coverage of presidential events. The New York Times and Washington Post, among others, said they would not provide or distribute still photographs from Trump’s events on Monday.
As a result, television networks did not provide shared footage of Trump boarding Air Force One or arriving in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
Trump also attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new Marine One helipad on the White House South Lawn. The event was streamed on the White House website, although the president’s remarks could not be heard clearly.
Trump later appeared on television after meeting New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani told the president that members of the media would be welcome at the subsequent press conference.
Trump responded to the coverage dispute by saying he was not concerned about the boycott.
“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,” he said.
The White House media pool is designed to allow news organisations to share footage and other material from presidential events, reducing the costs and logistical demands of having multiple crews covering the same event.
Fox News Washington bureau chief Bryan Boughton, who currently has a rotating role in coordinating television crews assigned to the White House, said in an email that the TV pool would no longer provide coverage for events designated as pool assignments.
According to the email, the decision followed the White House preventing CNN from carrying out its pool responsibilities during Trump’s trip to New York. It also said no replacement pool would be established.
Meanwhile, CNN, MS NOW and Politico filed their lawsuit in the US District Court in Washington on Monday.
In a joint statement, the organisations said their journalists’ credentials had been revoked without notice or due process because the White House objected to their reporting.
They argued that allowing the decision to stand could have wider implications for press freedom and the public’s access to independent journalism without government interference.
