WASHINGTON — U.S. broadcasters have suspended their pool coverage of President Donald Trump after he labeled several news organizations "fake news" and barred them from the White House. The boycott comes as Trump prepares for major events this week, including his U.N. General Assembly address and a summit with China's leader, raising the prospect that neither will be carried by major U.S. networks. It has also drawn attention to the roots of a Trump approach to the press that both exploits and keeps its distance from it.
According to foreign media reports on the 21st, five broadcasters — CNN, along with ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News, which jointly operate the White House television pool — stopped covering Trump through the pool as of that day. "The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate and independent information about its government," they said, adding that no administration should restrict a news organization because it dislikes that outlet's coverage. If the pool continues to withhold coverage, Chinese President Xi Jinping's three-day visit to the United States, scheduled to begin on the 23rd, may not be broadcast nationwide.
A day earlier, Trump revoked the White House credentials of CNN, MS NOW and Politico, and went on to describe The New York Times and The Washington Post as "fake news." The exclusions are not the first. The Times, NBC and other outlets described as anti-Trump media have been told to vacate their workspace in the Pentagon press area.
U.S. media accounts suggest Trump's thinking about the press took shape through his dealings in the 1970s with attorney Roy Cohn, then his mentor. Trump, a 27-year-old real estate developer at the time, was sued over allegations of racial discrimination. Cohn urged him never to admit fault and to hit back unconditionally, proposing a countersuit, and the case did shift after a campaign waged through the media. Trump subsequently began using the press as a tool to burnish his image. In the 1980s, he posed as a spokesman under the alias "John Barron," feeding favorable information about himself to reporters who then published it — a relationship closer to symbiosis.
The rupture came in the 1990s. As the bankruptcy of his Taj Mahal casino and his divorce drew heavy coverage, Trump grew critical of the press. From his 2015 presidential run onward, he adopted a strategy of branding critical mainstream outlets "fake news" to erode their credibility.
Attempts at control have become more overt in office. He signed an executive order directing an end to federal funding for the public broadcasters NPR and PBS, calling them biased toward liberals. Friendly outlets such as Fox News and Axios, by contrast, have received active engagement, extending his reach.
Separately, the political news outlet The Hill reported that the White House has launched "Trump TV," a 24-hour YouTube stream carrying news about the president. The channel, titled "Trump TV: The Essential Station," began broadcasting at 7 p.m. Eastern time that day, airing his speeches and the events he attends.
