Trump inaudible during White House TV pool blackout
President Trump was inaudible during a press conference Monday after the TV pool suspended coverage, leaving White House-provided video without usable audio of his remarks.
Why it matters: It's remarkable and immediate ramification of Trump's attempt to limit pool access.
The pool serves hundreds of journalists, so losing independent TV coverage can limit what the media — and the public — can see and hear.
Driving the news: President Trump announced a ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico on Friday, confiscating their credentials on Saturday over what he termed "FAKE NEWS".
CNN, MS NOW and Politico filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to restore their access, arguing the ban violates the First Amendment.
The decision to pull pooled TV coverage is a rare display of unified pushback from fiercely competitive networks against the administration's attempt to dictate what the public sees and how.
Thought bubble, via Axios' Brittany Gibson, one of the poolers: The White House Press Pool, by design and by necessity, is a collaborative effort amongst the nation's top news outlets.
These outlets, Axios included, are daily witnesses to arguably the most powerful office in the world and its revolving occupants.
The daily reports of what we're able to see, hear, photograph are carefully and quickly shared for the public record and are part of holding the office accountable to the people.
What the pool is How it works: The White House press pool is a rotating group of journalists who stay by the president's side throughout his public appearances and share their reporting, audio and footage with the rest of the media.
The pool includes about 20 journalists.
They travel with Trump on Air Force One and cram into the Oval Office, providing updates.
The TV coverage relies on five networks — ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC — that take turns providing live footage.
What the pool does The big picture: Trump is constantly on the move, so the pool makes it easier and less expensive to document his whereabouts.
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.axios.com — the content belongs to Axios.
