White House TV pool resumes coverage after CNN’s access is restored
By Brian Stelter, CNN
(CNN) — The major networks in the White House TV pool are resuming coverage of presidential events this morning after pausing for several days after President Donald Trump banned CNN.
CNN and other networks showed pool footage on Friday morning of Trump greeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping outside the White House South Portico before heading inside for a tea meeting.
The pair, along with their wives, later departed to visit the National Archives, where CNN was the TV pool and the networks picked up the feed of Trump briefly speaking to reporters and viewing the Declaration of Independence.
It was a noticeable change from Wednesday and Thursday, when major networks did not film or air Xi’s arrival and initial meeting with Trump.
The TV pool — made up of NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox News and CNN — 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.
The pool exists in part because presidents travel and speak in places where the wider press corps cannot be present.
The pool rotation is alphabetical. Thursday would have been ABC’s turn, but the networks abstained from pool coverage due to the ban controversy.
Once federal judge Timothy Kelly ordered the White House to restore access, and journalists from the three banned news outlets returned to work, the networks began moving forward with pooled coverage, although the situation remains fluid.
CBS was on pool duty at the White House on Friday. CNN was the in-town pool assignment covering the National Archives visit.
“CNN’s access to the White House has been restored, and the TV pool appears to be functioning as normal,” CNN anchor Pamela Brown said on-air Friday morning.
Ted Boutrous, CNN, MS NOW and Politico’s lawyer, said in an interview on “The Lead with Jake Tapper” that the plaintiffs in the ongoing lawsuit over White House access believe that pool access “is covered by the temporary restraining order” that Judge Kelly issued early Thursday morning.
“We think that that restoration of access means back into the pool, which is good for President (Donald) Trump and the administration, and it’s good for the American people to get the pool back up and running,” Boutrous said.
The-CNN-Wire
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