What is the White House press pool, and why is it now under threat?

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It’s the most powerful office in the world, and hundreds of journalists want to cover it. But how?

Enter the White House press pool.

Since the era of Franklin D. Roosevelt, White House reporters, photographers and technicians have utilized a system to cover the American president wherever he goes by assigning a small group — the pool — to act as representatives of the larger press corps.

The arrangement solves both a space problem — only so many reporters can fit into the Oval Office or Air Force One — and a financial one: it gets expensive to field teams at the White House and on the road every day, particularly for smaller outlets.

The system relies on cooperation between the news media and the White House, which agrees to allow reporters into areas that can only hold so many people.

The pool has evolved over time, adding different types of media organizations to accommodate shifts in how Americans consume news. But the mission has largely remained the same: to bear witness in person to the president’s words and actions, ask questions when possible and share that information and imagery with colleagues at other outlets, and by extension the public.

Now, with President Donald Trump banning three outlets — CNN, MS NOW and Politico — from the White House, that mission is under threat.

Pool reporters were in Warm Springs, Georgia, when Roosevelt died ; in Dallas when J ohn F. Kennedy was assassinated ; outside the Washington Hilton when Ronald Reagan was shot and aboard Air Force One when George Bush, Barack Obama and Trump made secret visits to far-flung war zones.

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CNN is scheduled to act as the television pool on Monday, and was assigned as the pool TV network that would accompany Trump during a planned trip to New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly this week.

It isn’t yet clear how Trump’s ban would affect pooling responsibilities. A ban targeting one organization could upend the system entirely, particularly for television, as the remaining outlets face staffing or financial constraints that make it untenable to support round-the-clock coverage of the highest office in the land.

The pool consists of print reporters, broadcast journalists and still photographers. The size of the pool varies by which space in which it is operating. On Air Force One, for example, there are 13 seats in the press cabin.

For most of its existence, the composition of the pool was controlled by journalists themselves. The White House Correspondents Association assigned print reporters to send written dispatches to the wider group of reporters who cover the presidency. Television and radio outlets rotated which network would record the president and distribute the material to others. Outlets in the pool communicated the names of their pool reporters to the White House in order to coordinate logistics.

There have been occasions when the White House limited who can be in the pool for practical or security reasons.

On September 11, 2001 , the White House reduced the size of the pool that accompanied Bush to then-undisclosed locations after the nation came under attack. Under pressure from some pool members, who insisted a few reporters be allowed to fly on Air Force One, Bush’s aides allowed half the pool to remain on board.

When Biden traveled to Ukraine in 2023 in what was a covert war-time journey, only a still photographer and print reporter accompanied him on the train ride in from Poland.

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There have been other instances of administrations attempting to limit certain outlets’ access. The Obama administration briefly tried to exclude Fox News from a round of interviews with then-TARP administrator Kenneth Feinberg that was offered to the other four networks in the TV pool. But outcry from the other networks led to Fox being reinstated. And the Obama team never sought to exclude Fox from acting as the daily network TV pool.

When Trump returned to office in 2025, his press office enacted changes to how the press pool would work. Wire services that once had permanent slots in the pool, including Reuters and the Associated Press, were no longer given daily access, but were allowed to continue in a rotation.

The White House also invited outlets that had not previously been in the pool, many of them right-leaning, to join pooled events as part of the rotation, and to travel aboard Air Force One.

The television pool system remained largely unchanged. Five networks — ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC — rotate daily responsibility for covering pool events with a three-person crew: a camera operator, an audio technician and a producer or reporter.

While the Trump White House added additional television network crews to pool events, including from smaller right-leaning outlets, the major TV network pool rotation remained intact.

The basic responsibility for any press pooler is to act as the eyes and ears for the larger group of reporters and organizations that cover the White House. Those outlets then convey the information to their readers, viewers and listeners.

For print reporters, that means taking detailed notes of everything the president says or does, and compiling it into a written dispatch that is shared over email with the larger group.

That can include mundane details, like exactly what time the president’s motorcade leaves the White House for a round of golf, or news of global importance, like a security episode or assassination attempt.

For broadcast journalists, there is also technical work involved. TV pool crews film the president and distribute the material live to the other members. As the camera operator and audio tech capture the president’s image and sound, the producer or reporter coordinates the feed over the phone, composes notes on the event and asks the president questions.

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Pool duty is often long and sometimes onerous. The White House tells pool members what time to be at the White House in the morning (the call time) and announces when coverage opportunities have ended (a lid). The time in between is often spent waiting, either in the White House briefing room, in a motorcade van or in the hallways of an international summit.

Because events often arise unexpectedly, pool members are always expected to be ready at a moment’s notice to begin transmitting information to their colleagues.

And they must remain sharp, with the knowledge that the information they share will be used in news reports around the world.

Major news outlets pay their own way when flying aboard Air Force One, staying in hotels or traveling in vehicles provided by the government as part of the pool. The costs are determined using formulas set by the White House, and are billed back to news organizations.

Presidential coverage is costly, and multi-day trips can cost tens of thousands of dollars for the outlets in the pool, depending on the destination.

Other costs are also incurred as part of the pool setup, including overtime pay, the price of equipment and costs to transmit video over satellites or high-speed internet.

Because outlets rotate who is in the pool — and thus responsible for the costs — the price tag is spread out. Dozens of outlets participate in the print pool rotation, though fewer travel on Air Force One where the daily costs are higher.

Each network in the five-network television pool is responsible for the costs of pooling every five days. Removing a network from the pool rotation would, in theory, create 20% more pool days for the remaining four networks, thereby increasing the coverage costs and staffing burdens for those outlets.

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这是世界上最有权势的办公室，成百上千的记者都想报道它。但是该如何报道呢？

加入白宫记者团。

自富兰克林·罗斯福时代以来，白宫记者、摄影师和技术人员一直采用一种系统来报道美国总统的行踪，即指派一小群人——记者团——作为更广泛的新闻界的代表。

这种安排既解决了空间问题——椭圆形办公室或空军一号能容纳的记者数量有限——又解决了财务问题：每天在白宫和各地派出团队进行报道成本很高，尤其是对于规模较小的媒体而言。

该系统依赖于新闻媒体和白宫之间的合作，白宫同意允许记者进入只能容纳一定人数的区域。

随着时间的推移，媒体记者团不断发展壮大，吸纳了不同类型的媒体机构，以适应美国民众获取新闻方式的转变。但其使命基本保持不变：亲身见证总统的言行，尽可能提出问题，并将这些信息和影像资料分享给其他媒体的同行，进而传递给公众。

现在，随着唐纳德·特朗普总统禁止 CNN、MS NOW 和 Politico 这三家媒体进入白宫，这项使命正受到威胁。

罗斯福去世时，随行记者在佐治亚州温泉城；肯尼迪遇刺时，随行记者在达拉斯；里根遇刺时，随行记者在华盛顿希尔顿酒店外；布什、奥巴马和特朗普秘密访问遥远战区时，随行记者在空军一号上。

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CNN 计划于周一担任电视转播联席记者团成员，并被指定为本周陪同特朗普前往纽约参加联合国大会的电视转播联席记者团成员。

目前尚不清楚特朗普的禁令将如何影响新闻报道责任的分配。针对单一机构的禁令可能会彻底颠覆整个体系，尤其对电视媒体而言，因为剩余的媒体机构面临着人员或资金方面的限制，难以维持对国家最高领导人全天候的报道。

记者团由平面媒体记者、广播记者和摄影师组成。记者团的规模取决于其所在的空间。例如，在空军一号上，新闻舱设有13个席位。

在白宫记者团存在的大部分时间里，记者团的组成都由记者自行掌控。白宫记者协会指派纸媒记者向报道总统的广大记者发送书面稿件。电视和广播电台轮流负责录制总统讲话，并将素材分发给其他媒体。记者团成员会将各自记者的名单告知白宫，以便协调后勤工作。

白宫曾多次出于实际或安全原因限制泳池使用人员的范围。

2001年9月11日，美国遭受恐怖袭击后，白宫缩减了随布什总统前往当时未公开地点的记者团规模。在一些记者团成员的压力下，他们坚持要求允许少数记者乘坐空军一号，布什的助手最终允许一半的记者团成员留在机上。

2023 年，拜登秘密前往乌克兰进行战时访问，当时只有一名摄影师和一名报社记者陪同他从波兰乘火车前往乌克兰。

Evan Vucci/Pool/Getty Images

此前也曾出现过政府试图限制某些媒体渠道的情况。奥巴马政府曾短暂地试图将福克斯新闻排除在对时任“问题资产救助计划”（TARP）负责人肯尼斯·范伯格的采访之外，当时其他四家参与电视联播的电视台也获得了采访机会。但其他电视台的强烈抗议最终促使福克斯新闻恢复了采访资格。而且，奥巴马团队从未试图将福克斯新闻排除在每日电视联播之外。

特朗普2025年重返白宫后，他的新闻办公室对记者团的运作方式进行了调整。此前在记者团中拥有固定席位的通讯社，包括路透社和美联社，不再享有每日采访权，而是可以轮流采访。

白宫还邀请了一些以前没有参与过联合报道的媒体机构（其中许多是右倾媒体机构）作为轮换的一部分参加联合报道活动，并乘坐空军一号出行。

电视转播联营体系基本保持不变。五家电视台——ABC、CBS、CNN、Fox 和 NBC——每天轮流负责联营赛事的报道，每个电视台配备一个三人摄制组：一名摄像师、一名录音师和一名制片人或记者。

尽管特朗普白宫增加了更多电视网络工作人员参与联合活动，包括来自一些规模较小的右倾媒体，但主要电视网络的联合轮换机制仍然保持不变。

任何随行记者的基本职责都是作为报道白宫的广大记者和机构的耳目。这些媒体随后会将信息传递给他们的读者、观众和听众。

对于纸媒记者来说，这意味着要详细记录总统说的每一句话或做的每一件事，并将其汇编成一份书面报道，通过电子邮件与更多人分享。

这可能包括一些琐碎的细节，例如总统车队何时离开白宫去打高尔夫球，也可能包括一些具有全球重要性的新闻，例如安全事件或暗杀未遂事件。

对于广播记者来说，其中也包含一些技术工作。电视联播团队会拍摄总统，并将素材实时分发给其他成员。在摄像师和录音师捕捉总统的影像和声音的同时，制片人或记者则通过电话协调信号传输，撰写事件笔记，并向总统提问。

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/法新社/盖蒂图片社

记者团的工作时间通常很长，有时也很繁重。白宫会告知记者团成员早上几点到白宫（集合时间），并宣布报道任务何时结束（结束时间）。这段时间通常用来等待，可能是在白宫新闻发布室、车队厢式货车里，也可能是在国际峰会的走廊里。

由于事件经常会出乎意料地发生，因此需要时刻准备着，随时开始向同事传递信息。

他们必须保持敏锐，因为他们知道自己分享的信息将被世界各地的新闻报道所采用。

各大新闻机构乘坐空军一号、入住酒店或使用政府提供的车辆出行时，需自行承担费用。这些费用由白宫根据既定公式计算，并最终由新闻机构承担。

总统专访费用昂贵，根据目的地不同，多日行程的媒体报道费用可能高达数万美元。

泳池搭建过程中还会产生其他费用，包括加班费、设备价格以及通过卫星或高速互联网传输视频的费用。

由于参与印刷品分发轮换的媒体机构（因此也由不同的媒体机构分担费用），成本得以分摊。数十家媒体机构参与印刷品分发轮换，但乘坐空军一号的媒体机构较少，因为空军一号的每日费用更高。

五家电视台组成的转播联盟中，每家电视台都需承担每五天一次的转播费用。理论上，如果将其中一家电视台从转播联盟中移除，剩余四家电视台的转播天数将增加20%，从而增加这些电视台的转播成本和人员配备负担。