White House bars CNN from covering Trump on behalf of major TV networks as he travels to Tennessee

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The White House is barring CNN from flying on Air Force One on Saturday as part of the news outlet’s duties covering the president on behalf of major television networks.

CNN had been scheduled to fly aboard the president’s plane on his trip to Tennessee for a college football game as part of the White House TV press pool — a small, rotating group of journalists that cover the president in areas where space is limited and share the information they gather with other TV networks.

The move — announced Friday night in a White House note that lays out the president’s schedule — represents the Trump administration’s latest salvo against CNN and the broader White House press corps. No outlet was listed as replacing CNN, meaning there will be no television pool coverage of his trip.

Last week, President Donald Trump announced he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. The move also prevented CNN from flying on Air Force One and fulfilling its scheduled pool duties when Trump traveled to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

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A judge later blocked the administration from enforcing the White House ban on the three outlets and ordered it to restore the credentials of the affected reporters. The status of the White House pool, though, was murkier.

With CNN banned, the other TV outlets — Fox, NBC, ABC and CBS — refused to perform their duties until regular access was restored. But regular coverage resumed on Friday, with CNN serving as part of the pool as Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited the National Archives.

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It was unclear how the White House’s move might affect CNN, MS NOW and Politico’s litigation. The outside lawyer representing CNN had previously told anchor Jake Tapper he believed the restoration of the outlets’ access included the White House pool.

A judge has given the news organizations until Monday to file a request for a preliminary injunction — which would put Trump’s promised ban on hold for a longer period of time.

A CNN spokesperson declined to comment. CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.

The Washington Post was first to report the White House’s decision.

The TV pool is the primary way that people around the world watch Trump’s speeches and appearances because it supplies video feeds and information to other news organizations.

“That’s the system that allows the networks to share video of the president with the whole country. If they aren’t there, the pool can’t function,” the current president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, Jacqui Heinrich, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“And America cannot have state TV,” her guest Weijia Jiang of CBS, who was Heinrich’s predecessor as WHCA president, said.

“That’s what makes America America,” she said. “That’s why we need independent coverage, and that’s why this press pool system has been set up for so long and why it works – because you need independent actors to be able to be the observers.”

Along with the TV pool, there are also print, radio and still photography pools. This system exists partly because presidents travel and speak in places where the wider press corps cannot be present.

The Trump White House also produces its own content, including live streams of events.

But, as Jiang put it, “if the government is only showing you what it wants, then you have to question, what are we missing? And that’s what the pool, that’s what these outlets bring to the table.”

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白宫禁止 CNN 记者周六乘坐空军一号，因为 CNN 是代表各大电视网报道总统的新闻机构。

CNN原计划搭乘总统的专机前往田纳西州观看一场大学橄榄球比赛，作为白宫电视记者团的一员——这是一个由几名记者组成的轮换小组，负责在空间有限的地区报道总统，并将他们收集到的信息与其他电视网分享。

白宫周五晚间发布的一份备忘录中宣布了这一举措，该备忘录列出了总统的行程安排。此举标志着特朗普政府对CNN和更广泛的白宫记者团发起了最新一轮攻击。备忘录中没有列出任何替代CNN的媒体，这意味着此次行程将不会有任何电视媒体联播报道。

上周，唐纳德·特朗普总统宣布禁止CNN、MS NOW和Politico进入白宫。此举还导致CNN无法搭乘空军一号，也无法在特朗普前往纽约参加联合国大会期间履行其原定的随行记者职责。

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后来，一名法官阻止了政府强制执行白宫对这三家媒体的禁令，并命令其恢复受影响记者的记者证。然而，白宫记者团的处境则更为不明朗。

由于CNN被禁播，其他电视台——福克斯、NBC、ABC和CBS——拒绝履行职责，直到恢复正常播出。但周五，正常报道恢复，CNN作为随行记者之一，报道了特朗普和中国领导人习近平访问国家档案馆的情景。

凯莉·库珀/路透社

目前尚不清楚白宫此举将如何影响CNN、MS NOW和Politico的诉讼。此前，代表CNN的外部律师曾告诉主播杰克·塔珀，他认为恢复这些媒体的采访权限也包括白宫记者团。

法官要求新闻机构在周一之前提交初步禁令申请——这将使特朗普承诺的禁令暂停更长时间。

CNN发言人拒绝置评。CNN已联系白宫寻求置评。

《华盛顿邮报》率先报道了白宫的这一决定。

电视转播联播网是世界各地人们观看特朗普演讲和露面的主要方式，因为它向其他新闻机构提供视频信号和信息。

“正是这套系统让各大电视台能够向全国观众分享总统的视频。如果没有这些视频，媒体池就无法运作，”白宫记者协会现任主席杰奎·海因里希在“福克斯周日新闻”节目中说道。

“美国不能有国家电视台，”她的嘉宾，来自哥伦比亚广播公司 (CBS) 的魏佳江说道，他曾是海因里希的前任白宫记者协会主席。

“这就是美国之所以成为美国的原因，”她说。“这就是为什么我们需要独立报道，也是为什么新闻联营制度已经建立这么久并且行之有效——因为我们需要独立的观察者。”

除了电视记者团之外，还有报纸、广播和摄影记者团。这套体系的存在部分原因是，总统经常出差或发表讲话，而其他媒体记者团无法亲临现场。

特朗普白宫也制作自己的内容，包括活动的直播。

但正如江所说，“如果政府只向你展示它想让你看到的东西，那么你就必须质疑，我们错过了什么？而这正是媒体平台，正是这些渠道所能带来的。”