Major TV networks suspend presidential pool coverage after CNN White House ban

The five major television networks that share presidential pool duties will stop providing pooled coverage of Donald Trump after the White House prevented CNN from carrying out its scheduled assignment.

The decision by ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC means there will be no primary television pool accompanying Trump during his trip to New York, New York, on Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, for the United Nations General Assembly. CNN had been scheduled to handle the rotation, but a White House schedule released Sunday showed the network had been removed.

“This is to advise that, effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the president,” Fox Washington bureau chief Brian Boughton, who currently chairs the television pool, said in a message to members. “This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties. There will be no replacement pool put in place.”

The television pool allows networks to rotate responsibility for providing video and audio from presidential events where space prevents every organization from having its own crew. The material is then distributed to other news organizations.

Print and radio pool coverage is expected to continue, along with secondary television pool arrangements. Coverage of Congress, visiting dignitaries and other selected events also would continue normally.

Any media outlet will also still be clear to cover the visit or any other White House pool events, but won’t have pool footage available. 

The five networks said in a joint statement that the public has an interest in receiving independent information about the government and that news organizations should not be restricted because an administration objects to their reporting.

The dispute began Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, when Trump announced that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would be barred from the White House because of coverage he characterized as “fake news.” Reporters from all three organizations were subsequently denied access to the White House and had their credentials revoked or confiscated.

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CNN’s removal from the television pool extends the restrictions beyond access to the White House grounds. The network had been scheduled to provide pool coverage during Trump’s travel to New York before the administration removed it from the rotation.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico sue over White House press ban

The network action comes the same day CNN, MS NOW and Politico filed a joint lawsuit against Trump and other administration officials in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.