Washington, Sept 21. (dpa/GNA) – US broadcasters suspended their daily coverage of President Donald Trump’s engagements on Monday, in response to the administration’s ban on three media outlets from the White House.
Fox News, which has been very supportive of Trump over many years, is part of the White House TV pool. The five major television broadcasters – ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC – take turns providing coverage of the president’s events, sharing the footage with other outlets.
CNN had been due to cover Trump’s trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday, but the organization has been barred from the White House alongside MS NOW and Politico.
The Fox News bureau chief in Washington, Bryan Boughton, wrote a note to the other pool members on Monday, explaining the decision to halt coverage of Trump’s engagement.
The New York Times cited the move as following, “the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties.” The three organizations said they plan to sue Trump over the decision.
If left unchallenged, the ban “threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference,” the trio argued.
The government was informed that the lawsuit would be filed on Monday, they added. The aim was to “defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes.”
Trump said on Friday that the three media organizations were banned from the White House with immediate effect, accusing them of spreading fake news.
Critics see the move as an attempt at intimidation and an attack on press freedom. What exactly prompted Trump’s announcement remained unclear.
He doubled down on the criticism on Monday, writing in a post on his Truth Social platform: “The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish. It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America.” “It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control,” he continued. “It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!”
On Saturday, journalists from all three outlets were denied access to the White House grounds, the media organizations said.
GNA