Even C-SPAN Joined the Press Pool’s White House Boycott

Lenin Nolly/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images

President Donald Trump banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico sparked a boycott from numerous other members of the White House Press Corps — including nonprofit C-SPAN.

On Friday, Trump wrote a Truth Social post saying he was banning those three media outlets from the White House, citing his usual claims of “Fake News” and threatening that other outlets would soon be banned too.

Numerous journalists, commentators, and free-speech advocacy groups denounced Trump’s efforts to ban these media outlets as unconstitutional.

On Monday, the television networks in the White House TV press pool banded together to effectively boycott pool coverage of the president and the banned outlets filed a lawsuit challenging the ban on First Amendment grounds. Trump reacted furiously to the lawsuit, as well as complaining about the judge, who previously ruled against him when he revoked then-CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta’s press pass.

Thus far, the first event without the usual press pool drew loud mockery when the Marine One helicopter completely drowned out what Trump was saying.

C-SPAN, a nonprofit network created by the cable industry in 1979, is not funded by taxpayer dollars.

On Sunday, C-SPAN issued a statement from CEO Sam Feist, expressing “solidarity” with the media outlets targeted by Trump:

For nearly five decades, C-SPAN has advocated for greater public and media access to our democratic institutions. We have urged Congress to open more of its proceedings to independent television coverage, called on the Supreme Court to allow cameras in its courtroom, and consistently supported greater access to the presidency.

C-SPAN typically stays out of the news cycle and lets the sights and sounds of politics speak for themselves. But access to America’s leaders and institutions is at the heart of our public service mission — and throughout our history, our colleagues in the news media have supported our efforts to bring more openness to government.

It is in that same spirit that we urge the Trump administration to reverse its decision and immediately restore White House access to CNN, MS NOW and Politico. C-SPAN stands in solidarity with our colleagues as they seek to simply do the work that America’s constitution guarantees them the freedom to do and upon which our democracy depends.The answer should always be more access to our government, not less. That openness serves the American public and strengthens our democracy.

C-SPAN also did not show Trump’s afternoon event with the new White House helipad.

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