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Let's get into it:
The big media outlets are super mad that they've been kicked out of the White House. Trump kicked the fake news to the curb, sending CNN, Politico, and MS NOW out into the street. As Marco Rubio clarified this morning, they've not been banned, as they're claiming, but simply don't have a seat in the White House anymore.
You know who else didn't have a seat in the White House? The Post Millennial and Human Events. The White House Press Corps under Joe Biden would not even consider an application from us to report on the administration's goings-on from the seat of power itself. In response to the kick-out of those three outlets, FOX, CBS, ABC and NBC all said they would not report from the White House either, and they claimed that this was a really sad thing for the American people who were losing access due to some alleged despotic leader.
The fact of the matter is, however, that Newsmax kept covering Trump as did Real America's Voice, which was already part of the pool traveling with the president to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York. When the big outlets complained they couldn't get "pool coverage," which is where one outlet does the coverage and then distributes it to the others, they never even asked RAV for their video and photos. Instead, they decided that if they couldn't be in the room they would take their cameras and go home.
Every administration has selected the media they would prefer to have around them. This was true under the Carter administration, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush the Second, Obama, Biden, and now Trump. How skimpy are these outlets' memories when it comes to who gets access under which president and just who is doing the selecting.
Under Biden, Chanel Rion of OAN had to fight for access and even then was made to stand in the back despite there being seats available in the press room.
"The only television outlet scheduled to travel with the president on his trip to New York is Real America’s Voice," Politico reported in a daytime newsletter, "a conservative online outlet whose shows include 'The Charlie Kirk Show' and Steve Bannon’s 'War Room.' It was not immediately clear to what extent, if at all, the outlet would disseminate footage and other information to the broader press corps. Real America’s Voice did not immediately respond to a request for comment."
Speaking from his position at the outlet as a news show host, Jack Posobiec said on X: "RAV is more than happy to accommodate, Brit." He was replying to Brit Hume, who was very angry about the removal of CNN from the pool—and the decline in pool coverage after the other outlets banned themselves.
Hume said "The White House tv pool was created because many rooms in the White House, e.g. the Oval Office, are too small to accommodate all the tv outlets who may want to cover a presidential event. The same is true for Air Force One and presidential motorcades. So one network covers for all on a rotating basis. To be a part of it, an organization must have present every day a full broadcast crew, a producer or reporter and the equipment and personnel needed to record and distribute the video shot by the pool crew."
"At the moment, only a handful of outlets qualify. Back when ABC, CBS and NBC were dominant, they tried to keep CNN out of the pool. But CNN had the equipment and personnel to do the pool job and were admitted by court order. 'Anyone with a camera,' as this writer says would not qualify. And he suggests the White House could cover these events. Then it would be 'official' for sure. Would he really like that better?"
The thing is, with the advances in tech, all a reporter needs at this point is an iPhone, a mic, and access. Once the footage is recorded, links to it can be sent to any outlet that wants it. The rarified profession is just not so rarified anymore. The idea that all this tech is needed is just lag.
Of course, there'll be a lawsuit. That suit is set to appear before a judge on Wednesday. For CNN change is afoot. They're not just booted from the White House, but slated to have new ownership. Paramount is going to take charge and they're set to introduce editorial changes. Brian Stelter doesn't seem happy about it, but in 2021, he pondered whether or not FOX should be banned from Biden's White House.
Libby