CNN’s Brian Stelter gave President Donald Trump’s White House press ban a brutal reality check on Saturday by breaking down how a press pool made up of news outlets that only covered the president favorably just wouldn’t work.
“The reality is, that those MAGA media outlets that ask him fawning questions and make him feel really good with their, you know, with their softballs, they don’t have the infrastructure, the money, the resources, the willingness to do the actual day-in, day-out work of traveling with the president, of covering him 24/7 of being there days and nights,” Stelter said.
Stelter’s network, along with MS Now and Politico, were barred from the White House by Trump, who accused them Friday of being “FAKE NEWS!” and trying “to diminish the Republicans and a Republican administration.” Journalists from all three were denied access to the White House on Saturday.
Trump later named-dropped The New York Times and Washington Post as other “fake news” organizations when asked which media outlets might be next.
CNN, MS Now, ABC, NBC and Fox News are the five major TV networks that “take turns working 24/7” to show Trump on camera whenever he’s in public, Stelter explained. Trump banning two of those networks introduces a “practical” issue, he said.
“Because it is CNN’s turn to be in the rotation on Monday, there will be a moment, there will be a question at that moment, about whether the White House continues to enforce this undemocratic, unconstitutional rule or whether the White House will go ahead and let CNN in,” he continued.
He added that “the president deeply cares about” being on camera regularly, but the ban could lessen his onscreen time.
“We will be in a situation on Monday where if there is no pool camera, if there is no broadcaster that’s with the president, then suddenly he’s not going to be on camera in the same way,” Stelter said.
See Stelter’s comments below:
He continued, “Trump wants attention but not accountability. He wants the cameras and, in some cases, the photos, but he doesn’t want the pesky questions and the people pointing out that he’s lying. But in the United States, you cannot have the attention without the accountability. Trump’s been trying to figure out ways to do that. It simply hasn’t worked.”