President Trump went mute Monday.
Trump had plenty he wanted to talk about. He had paved more of the White House grounds and wanted to speak.
Only problem: He’d banned part of the White House TV pool so there was no microphone operator to record him. That didn’t stop the President from speaking. He stood talking, with some television stations carrying the video, but there was no audio of what he was saying
Whether he recognizes it or not, Trump hit the mute button himself.
This has been a long time coming. His assault on the press organizations that make up the traditional White House travel pool has been unlike any other President, consistent and growing.
The saying goes: Big things can happen slowly and then all at once. I fear we could be watching the dissolution of the traditional White House press pool, an organization most Americans have both relied on and have very little knowledge of.
It’s easy to be hyperbolic, but the consequences of this shift, even if they’re lost on the average voter, can truly reshape what kind of government we have in this country.
White House TV Pool
The first time I met the White House TV pool operators was the morning after President Obama’s election.
We were hosting our first press conference. The team that had flown in was now more seasoned than the campaign team.
They walked me through what they needed, a center aisle for their microphone operator, video spots for a multi-channel switched feed, access. Lots of access.
It was honestly welcome. These pros come from the nation’s largest networks, ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS and CNN. They knew what they were doing and we wanted the President Elect’s words to travel far. It was a dance many administrations before me had done, a promise of access to a press that had no obligation to cover him a certain way, to make sure his words carried far and wide.
There was never a day where our team was happy about all of the coverage. That’s politics. There was, always, at least one news organization that would be a thorn in the side, sometimes implying the President I worked for could be a secret terrorist, or worse, with absolutely no evidence. And then there were the ones who simply took a different angle than we would have liked.
But every morning they called me in my role as Director of Press Advance, I gave the TV pool every detail we had thus far. I would tell them where to expect the President to travel, what he was expected to do, and who they could expect to see.
The White House TV pool accompanied us on pre-advances around the world, to trips we were planning, some we might not be able to take. They did all of this for planning purposes only, not reporting on the details that would lead to the live moments, to ensure Americans could witness history.
Having an independent media pool reporting on the President reassures other media that what happened is what we said happened. At a time of growing distrust that’s more important than ever.
When we planned an under the cover of darkness trip to Afghanistan, I called the White House TV pool and we met with the team in Afghanistan from the White House Situation Room.
Because of logistics, the organizations agreed to take the live military satellite feed, only if their operator controlled the camera on the ground. Done, we agreed.
Bipartisan Resistance
The TV pool was a key part of the press pool that traveled with the President. There were 13 seats aboard Air Force One for press, three seats were consistently reserved for TV. The news organizations decided on the rotation, not us.
We didn’t have any say in who traveled with us. Some of my colleagues viewed certain journalists with skepticism. They believed they weren’t smart, they had a point of view, they rubbed people the wrong way.
But the press defended each other; they certainly didn’t want the White House staff having the final say. So, often, we would be backed into a corner. Deal with the press you have, not the press you want, or don’t get your message out at all.
That’s a trade off that all Presidents need to manage and one that, if we are honest, is bedrock to a democratic system.
President Trump has taken his resistance far farther than any other President. After renaming the Gulf of Mexico the ‘Gulf of America,’ he was mad at AP for not following suit. He banned them — one of the world’s largest, most relied upon news organizations — from coming into small session pool sprays.
I was surprised that the press didn’t band together right then and refuse coverage. All of them rely on AP, a wire service that operates across the world. The reality, though, is the press power is diminished, with new outlets popping up all the time, cable viewers decreasing and independent creator power increasing. The power dynamics are different at the same time that corrupt politicians on all sides would rather not deal with the press at all.
Lonely not free
With the ban on a key TV pool member newly in place, organizations seem to be walking eggshells a bit, both trying to support the pool effort to ensure long-term access and coverage of leaders of both parties. And they’re trying to do their job, covering the President. For now the ban is mostly holding. The UN speech this morning was different, covered by pool UN cameras. It’s also possible the courts will bring welcome relief.
But organizations are also preparing for an unknown future.
The President announced last night he would launch Trump TV. Just what we need, the President playing producer and director, while he’s managing a continuing war. In truth he’s likely using the military cameras that have long followed the President to record history for his Trump TV escapades, empowering staff for the feed instead of the free press.
But that’s exactly how some, more concerned with ratings than access, could start tuning in to the President’s remarks despite the pool boycott.
The reality is they are competitors as much as collaborators. The current alliance is fragile.
But I would warn that if they break and they take this coverage now, they set themselves up for failure and distrust for years to come.
I have written here before about my disappointment in NewsNation, which had billed itself as free and fair, and then I believed went too far to appease Trump.
I remember when an operator came to my home to pack up my live kit when I was no longer with the network, we were talking about the election and the free press.
He said, well if Trump wins, we may be the only free press left.
How naive, I thought. If you’re the only one left, you’re no longer free.
Fabulous post Johanna! There's a lot I could say, but it will be and has been said by others, like you just now, who can say it better than me inre how vital the free press is to our survival of our democracy...'if we can keep it'.
But, I'll just say that I cannot wait for the season premiere of SNL for their cold open this Saturday night. I'm thinking Trump TV would make for a pretty good opening skit. lol.
Great post! I couldn’t agree more. The US TV Pool is essential for our democracy. I certainly will not trust any content from Trump TV.