The White House press corps covers and accompanies the President of the United States every day, providing the press and the public with near-constant information about his activities.
The public could be deprived of important information about President Donald Trump’s activities after TV stations suspended their coverage of the president after he banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House.
The five networks that make up the White House television network (ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, and NBC News) alternate each day with one network covering the president’s daily activities and statements in Washington and around the world. They send the video to other news outlets, where it is shown on TV stations and also used by journalists who are not present to report on the president’s remarks in real time.
The pool covers events that are widely open to the press and take place in more confined spaces, such as waiting for the president under the wings of Air Force One and accompanying him on the plane. The pool also allows reporters to attend spaces like the Oval Office, where there isn’t enough space to accommodate all of the hundreds of reporters covering the White House, which in turn gives the public access to information.
According to the White House Correspondents Association, which represents journalists who cover the White House and advocate for access to the president, the pool has been documenting U.S. presidents every day for nearly a century since the days of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Pool reporters broadcast live across the country events such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the terrorist attacks of September 11th.
Broadcast, still photographers, print, digital and radio reporters cover the White House and the president on the move from the first “call hour” of each day until “lid” is called, when staffers warn reporters that the president will not be seen again that day.
For most of the history of the press, the White House Correspondents’ Association controlled which news organizations covered the president on any given day. In recent years, this has typically included rotating television stations between ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and Fox News, rotating “print” newspaper slots, radio slots, and slots dedicated to still photographers and “wire service” services such as Associated Press, Reuters, and Bloomberg.
But President Trump’s White House has taken a tougher stance on pool coverage.
In February 2025, the White House Press Office announced that it would take the lead in deciding which reporters to cover President Trump. The administration has since made several changes to the structure of the Trump campaign, including adding sideline reporters for TV and print and eliminating the “wireline” slot. The White House also added a “new media” seat where news organizations not normally included in the press pool can apply to be selected by the White House Press Office. A variety of media outlets have appeared at the new media table, from right-wing influencers to emerging media outlets. A 2025 analysis by the Poynter Institute found that the White House’s selection of reporters for second-tier television and new media slots is biased toward conservative news organizations.
This pool gave the public broad access to the president’s activities and allowed the president to quickly summon reporters if the White House wanted to disseminate information widely. The pool, coordinated by the White House Correspondents Association, includes rotating representatives from participating news organizations, whose companies pay for the journalists’ travel with the president.
CNN was scheduled to represent a pool of television networks during the president’s visit to the United Nations General Assembly on Monday.
The remaining TV officials said they had no role in replacing CNN as a backup, effectively depriving independent news outlets of live video footage of the president’s activities in New York.
Disclosure: CNBC and MS NOW are divisions of Versant Media.
