U.S. networks halt Trump coverage for a day, after White House bans three news outlets

US President Donald Trump's new White House helipad was opened without live television coverage, as were his events at the United Nations General Assembly. This was a result of a rare move by the top five US broadcasters - ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, and NBC - who halted "pool" coverage of the White House in protest at Trump's decision to ban CNN, MSNBC, and Politico from the White House grounds.

The ban was put in place after Trump ordered the outlets to be barred on Friday. The networks released a joint statement saying that "the public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting." As a result, CNN, which had been scheduled to provide the television pool feed, was not replaced.

The lack of live coverage was evident at the helipad opening, where Trump's remarks were drowned out by the sound of a helicopter. According to Newsmax, a conservative outlet, this was "one example of it backfiring just a little bit." The networks' decision to boycott Trump's events was seen as an unprecedented test of wills between the Trump administration and the press.

Brief written by urgent.news from National Post, Hindustan Times - World News, Crikey, Malay Mail, The Jakarta Post — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.