Top TV networks boycott filming Trump's press conferences and other events
· Business Insider
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- Top TV networks are refusing to film President Donald Trump's press conferences and other "pool" events.
- Trump has barred reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from attending White House events.
- Other members of the White House pool — ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox News — are standing with CNN.
President Donald Trump's press conferences are being boycotted by top TV networks after the White House barred journalists from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico.
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The White House TV pool — made up of ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Fox News — is declining to film Trump's press conferences and other pool events related to the president indefinitely, according to an email from Bryan Boughton, the Washington bureau chief for Fox News, obtained by Politico.
"The TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President," Boughton wrote the Monday email.
"This follows the White House's position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties," Boughton said.
CNN was scheduled to cover the president on Monday and share the TV feed with ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox News. The networks in this so-called pool rotate coverage duties, including providing video feeds to one another and to other news organizations. Clips gathered by the White House pool are used by websites and newspapers worldwide.
"The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government," members of the White House pool said in a joint statement on Monday. "No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting."
The networks will continue their agreed-upon pool duties for events not related to the president, such as those involving Congress.
Trump announced a ban on CNN, MS Now, and Politico journalists from the White House in a social media post on Friday, saying that they "shouldn't be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they're covering the President of the United States."
The decision immediately set off alarm bells among press advocates. CNN, MS NOW, and Politico said on Monday that they're suing Trump and three of his top advisors, alleging the ban is a "direct assault on the First Amendment."
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