According to major foreign media outlets on Sept. 21 local time, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News — which run the White House broadcast pool alongside CNN — suspended the pool coverage under which they take turns covering Trump and share footage with domestic and foreign outlets. In a statement, the broadcast pool said the public "has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government," adding that "no administration should restrict a news organization simply because it dislikes that outlet's coverage."
As a result, footage of Trump will not be fed to the networks' TV affiliates across the country. Viewers will be able to watch only through small right-leaning broadcast outlets, YouTube channels or the official White House YouTube channel.
Trump's remarks at public events go unheard without pool microphones
On the White House YouTube channel, Trump spoke at a ceremony marking the completion of a helipad in front of the White House that day, but his voice could not be heard because there was no pool microphone. Trump is also scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 22, an event that will likewise be difficult to watch on major U.S. broadcast channels. In an email to the White House press corps, the administration listed outlets where his speech could be viewed, including the White House website and mobile app. It is unusual for the White House to directly guide viewers to channels, a sign that the networks' refusal to cover Trump has had an effect. If the broadcast pool continues its boycott, President Xi Jinping's Sept. 23-25 visit to the United States is also expected not to be carried nationwide by those networks.
Trump has shown an almost obsessive interest in how he and his cabinet secretaries appear on television and in ratings. He came to keenly appreciate television as the most powerful propaganda tool during his 14 seasons on the hit program "The Apprentice," which began airing in 2004. In July, after ABC, NBC and CNN declined to carry a major address he had announced live, Trump reacted sharply, saying their "broadcast licenses should be revoked."
CNN and two other outlets sue over White House ban
Foreign policy and security experts said Trump would use the upcoming U.S.-China summit as a "show" ahead of the midterms. Unlike under what he casts as a weak Biden administration, they said, he wants to project across the country the image that "a strong America is back" by showing that the United States has grown tough under his rule and by appearing alongside Xi, a quintessential "strongman," in Washington, D.C. It is Xi's first state visit to the United States in 11 years. But the networks' refusal to cover him has complicated that plan.
CNN, MS Now and Politico, which were barred that day, filed suit over the ban in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In their complaint, the outlets said the Constitution "does not permit the president or any other government official to strip the press of its First Amendment rights, liberty and property interests without notice or process simply because he dislikes its coverage."
Citing multiple sources, CNN reported that Trump barred the three outlets after Natalie Harp, a close aide, showed him footage of press coverage last week. The president was said to have been infuriated by a Politico graphic and also watched TV clips.
