President Donald Trump’s decision to bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House is hurting some of his most loyal media allies.
The major TV networks responded to the ban by suspending pool coverage of the president, putting smaller pro-Trump streaming outlets, such as Right Side Broadcasting Network and Lindell TV in a bind because their programming depends largely on carrying Trump’s rallies and events live and unedited, reported Zeteo.
“For everything the second Trump administration has done to juice the conservative content creation machine, it can’t work well if there’s no video,” political journalist Jake Lahut wrote.
CNN is one of the five networks in the White House television pool, along with ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. On Monday, Fox Washington bureau chief Bryan Boughton, the pool’s rotating chair, told members there would be no network TV coverage of the president for the foreseeable future.
The five networks also issued a joint statement saying “no administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”
Conservative outlets were left airing the White House’s own livestream of Trump unveiling his new helipad, but the audio was inaudible, and even a Newsmax anchor admitted this week that the ban was “backfiring just a little bit.”
The White House has launched its own 24/7 video feed, which critics have compared to state-run media, but it had just 609 viewers when Tuesday night.
The cost of covering the president is also a factor. The New York Times’ Michael Grynbaum explained on “The Daily” podcast that the pool networks split the expense of staffing the president with camera crews, audio producers and correspondents.
“If CNN suddenly was not participating in a five-network pool, that’s a 20 percent spike in the financial outlay that these other networks would have to pay,” Grynbaum said.
Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, a Trump confidant, said the network would not step in as a replacement pool. He also said Trump had “overreacted” and urged him to reconsider. CNN reported that other broadcasters have also turned down the White House’s request to handle pool duties.
The banned networks have been allowed back into the White House – at least for now – after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to temporarily reinstate their press badges.
CNN’s Betsy Klein and a photojournalist were allowed into the premises Thursday at noon after multiple attempts to enter the White House that morning, and a reporter for MS Now was also granted access, according to the network.
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