White House Press Pool Boycotts Coverage Over Trump Media Curbs
White House press pool journalists have refused to cover President Trump after three outlets were banned, prompting a lawsuit and coinciding with the launch of a presidential streaming platform.
Journalists assigned to the White House press pool have declined to cover President Donald Trump, escalating a confrontation over access to the administration.
The standoff followed the barring of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from covering the president. The outlets were excluded over claims that they had published what the administration characterised as fake news.
In response to the restrictions, members of the press pool — the rotating group of reporters who accompany the president and cover his public appearances — refused to carry out their usual duties.
The three affected networks have since filed a lawsuit against the administration, challenging the move to block them from coverage.
The dispute has unfolded alongside the White House's launch of a 24-hour streaming platform dedicated to presidential content, which has been referred to as Trump TV.
The press pool exists to give a broad group of news organisations shared access to the president and to pool their reporting for wider distribution. Its members' decision to withhold coverage marks a rare collective action by the White House press corps.
The lawsuit and the coverage boycott together represent a widening conflict between the administration and the news organisations that report on it.