CNN says it was left off Air Force One for Trump’s trip to college football game

THE WHITE HOUSE has left CNN off Air Force One for Donald Trump’s trip to a college football game in Tennessee, marking the latest media restriction from the administration.

CNN, a member of the US news network video pool that rotates duties shooting and sharing video coverage of the president, reported it had been scheduled to fly aboard the president’s plane on Saturday for a visit to Knoxville, but White House guidance issued on Friday night instead included Real America’s Voice, a conservative outlet.

The White House guidance was issued after journalists from CNN, along with MS Now and Politico, which Trump banned last week from the White House grounds, returned to the executive complex with TV cameras in hand after a judge handed the organisations a reprieve.

US District Judge Timothy Kelly temporarily struck down the ban in an overnight ruling early on Thursday, but his decision dealt with “hard passes” to the White House grounds and did not address pool duties.

The judge’s temporary order also said nothing directly about Air Force One, the president’s official plane.

The spot meant for CNN on the flight has long been saved for a member of the US network video pool, but Real America’s Voice is not a part of that group.

A pool report on Saturday morning confirmed there was “no TV pool” for the trip.

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On Saturday morning, the president addressed the broader debate in a post on social media, writing: “FAKE NEWS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED IN THE WHITE HOUSE!!! IT HAS GONE ON FAR TOO LONG, AT A TREMENDOUS COST TO OUR COUNTRY.”

For a while on Friday, the US network video pool for the White House was back in operation for the first time since Trump banned the three news outlets in a showdown over media access.

At noon on CNN, viewers could see Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping touring the National Archives, along with Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan, Xi’s wife.

The banner along the bottom of the screen read: “Trump and China’s Xi Visit National Archives.” It was a routine report from a state visit — except that CNN had not aired live video of Trump in several days.

The TV pool consists of five major US broadcast outlets. When the administration banned CNN from the White House grounds, along with MS Now and Politico, the other four pool providers declined to participate in a show of solidarity.

Throughout his second term, Trump has increasingly targeted media outlets whose coverage irritates him, taking administrative or legal action against several.

Early last year, he banished Associated Press reporters from White House events because the organisation was not abiding by his executive order changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. AP’s guidance says to acknowledge the new name when relevant.

The case is on appeal after a federal district judge ruled in AP’s favour.