The battle between President Donald Trump and the media is escalating as several television networks show solidarity with the banned news outlets. According to an internal memo from American television networks, the joint so-called pool - where the media takes turns filming - will stop following the president with immediate effect, The Washington Post reports.
"(The decision) follows the White House's decision to prevent CNN from fulfilling its commitments within the pool," a statement from the interim chairman of the media pool, Fox News Washington chief Bryan Boughton, said.
CNN was the company that, according to the pool's schedule, was to cover Trump on Monday in New York, where he is. But no other company will replace the absent cameramen.
Filed a lawsuit
There is nothing preventing media outlets with continued access to the White House from individually continuing to cover Trump, but many companies rely on their pool for coverage.
In a joint statement, the television channels ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC write that:
“The public has a critical need to receive accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it opposes reporting.”
Earlier on Monday, the banned media companies had asked a federal judge to overturn the president's decision made on Friday. Despite valid accreditation, journalists from the three companies were denied entry to the White House on Saturday. In the lawsuit, they jointly write that the decision is an "unconstitutional attack."
“Corrupt”
According to Trump, the reason for the ban is the media's "constant 'reporting' of fake news."
"Media should not be able to constantly write or report fiction and lies when covering the President of the United States, the Trump administration, or the United States," he wrote on Truth Social on Friday, partly in capital letters.
While the AP news agency reports that CNN journalists were seen working from an intersection outside the White House, the president claimed on Monday that the White House is not attacking the free press but rather “fake news” which he claims is “corrupt” and “growing like a cancer.”
The AP was previously kicked out of the White House as punishment for refusing to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico in its reporting. The news agency has sued the White House in a lawsuit that is still ongoing.
