What the press pool does

Five TV networks rotate daily coverage of the president, feeding video to other outlets worldwide. This gives the public near-constant information on the president's activities.

Why the pool matters

The pool covers spaces like the Oval Office where hundreds of reporters cannot fit. It lets the public see how the president handles difficult questions.

A century of coverage

The press pool has covered every U.S. president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the September eleventh terrorist attacks.

How the pool was run

The White House Correspondents' Association controlled pool membership for most of its history, rotating slots among TV networks, newspapers, radio, photographers and wire services.

Trump takes control

In February twenty twenty-five, Trump's White House took control of selecting pool members. It added new slots and eliminated the wire service slot.

Conservative tilt in selections

Analysis from the Poynter Institute found Trump's selections for secondary TV and new media slots skewed towards conservative outlets, including right-wing influencers.

The bans and suspension

Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. The remaining TV networks then suspended pool coverage rather than replace CNN.

What the suspension means

CNN was scheduled to cover Trump at the United Nations General Assembly. Without TV pool video, independent news media lost live footage of the president's activity.

The stakes for the public

Seth Stern of the Freedom of the Press Foundation says the pool serves as the public's eyes and ears. Without it, Americans cannot see how the president handles difficult questions.

“The press pool serves as the public's eyes and ears inside the White House.”