America’s biggest television networks have taken the extraordinary step of suspending their shared video coverage of President Donald Trump after the White House blocked CNN from carrying out its scheduled presidential press-pool duties.
ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC agreed Monday that they would not send a replacement crew to handle events normally covered by the rotating television pool, escalating a rapidly growing fight between the Trump administration and several major news organizations.
The move immediately affected coverage of Trump’s trip to New York during United Nations General Assembly week.
CNN had been scheduled to serve as Monday’s television pool network, meaning its camera crew would normally travel with the president and distribute video to other news organizations.
But White House guidance issued Sunday night did not list CNN as the primary television pooler. By Monday morning, the five major networks had decided not to replace it.
Fox News Washington bureau chief Bryan Boughton, who chairs the television pool, told pool subscribers that presidential events designated for pool coverage would no longer receive coverage from the group for the time being.
“There will be no replacement pool put in place,” Boughton wrote, according to reports that obtained the email.
The networks said their decision followed the White House’s refusal to allow CNN to carry out its assigned duties.
In a joint statement, the television organizations said the public has a strong interest in receiving independent information about the government and argued that an administration should not restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.
The dispute began after Trump announced Friday that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would no longer be permitted access to the White House.
Trump accused the organizations of spreading what he described as “fake news.”
The White House doubled down Monday, arguing in an official statement that a First Amendment right to publish news does not automatically guarantee a media organization a White House credential, briefing-room seat or position in the presidential press pool.
Vice President JD Vance also defended the administration’s decision, telling reporters Monday that it was “about basic fairness.”
The three targeted organizations are now taking the fight to federal court.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico filed a joint lawsuit Monday alleging that the White House violated their First Amendment press rights and Fifth Amendment due-process rights by revoking access because of their reporting.
The organizations said their credentials were revoked without adequate notice or a process allowing them to challenge the decision.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly — a familiar name in disputes involving Trump and CNN.
Kelly, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, ordered the White House in November 2018 to temporarily restore correspondent Jim Acosta’s press pass after the administration revoked it following a contentious presidential news conference.
That ruling focused heavily on whether Acosta had received adequate due process before losing his credential.
Monday’s showdown does not mean television viewers will be completely unable to see Trump during UN week.
Real America’s Voice was listed as an out-of-town television crew traveling with the president, while Hearst was listed as a secondary Washington pool outlet, according to scheduling information reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Real America’s Voice also promoted itself Monday as the only television network listed in the pool for Trump’s New York trip.
Meanwhile, Trump’s formal appearance before the United Nations General Assembly is scheduled for Tuesday, September 22 — not Monday — as part of the opening day of the General Debate.
The United Nations independently livestreams General Assembly proceedings through UN Web TV, meaning Trump’s speech can still be broadcast or streamed even without the traditional White House television pool.
What viewers may lose, at least temporarily, is the constant pooled footage that normally follows a president between meetings, motorcades, arrivals, departures and other events that are not separately televised.
That distinction matters because the presidential television pool has operated for decades as a cooperative system.
The five networks rotate responsibility for sending a camera crew with the president, then make that footage available to broadcasters and other news organizations that could not realistically send their own cameras into every presidential event.
Other forms of press coverage have not stopped. Print journalists and photographers can continue performing separate pool duties, and CNN reporters were still able to cover officials outside the White House operation.
For now, however, there is no announced date for the five-network television pool to resume normal presidential coverage.
That leaves one of the most established systems for documenting the presidency caught in the middle of an escalating legal and constitutional battle over who gets access to the White House.
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