The boycott didn’t last a week. Four of the five major television networks that jointly suspended White House pool coverage are quietly returning to the rotation, after the arrangement they hoped would pressure the Trump administration instead handed close-up access to upstart conservative outlets. The Gateway Pundit’s Jordan Conradson first reported the collapse of the boycott.
The standoff began when President Trump barred CNN, MS Now, and Politico from White House access, saying the outlets “report FICTION and LIES.” In response, Fox News, CBS, NBC, ABC, and CNN joined together to pull out of television pool coverage of the president. Fox News Washington bureau chief Bryan Boughton circulated a letter to the other networks announcing the move: “Effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President.”
The Substitute Pipeline
What the networks didn’t anticipate was that someone else would step in. Real America’s Voice took over pool duties for Trump’s trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Lindell TV and Real America’s Voice were then tapped for the television pool covering Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit in Washington, D.C. On Saturday, Real America’s Voice handled pool coverage for Trump’s trip to Tennessee aboard Air Force One — a trip CNN was excluded from, drawing fresh complaints from left-leaning media. The Gateway Pundit was also in the pool that day.
The White House eventually restored access for CNN, MS Now, and Politico after a federal judge ruled that Trump’s ban was likely unconstitutional and ordered their credentials reinstated. But CNN’s continued exclusion from Air Force One travel kept the networks’ boycott alive — briefly.
A Tentative Deal to Return
The New York Times, citing four people familiar with the discussions, reported that “under a tentative plan that began taking shape late Friday, the other four networks would return to performing pool duties.” According to that reporting, each time CNN appears in the pool rotation, the group would decide whether to provide a substitute crew — and the networks would refuse to carry Real America’s Voice’s pool feed.
That scenario played out Saturday: with Real America’s Voice handling coverage, the networks reportedly declined to supply a substitute crew and then claimed they were unable to cover the White House without a pool camera. The feed was available to any outlet that wanted it, and the Times acknowledged the practical result of the networks’ return, noting it “effectively hands Mr. Trump more control over the list of news outlets granted close-up access to many of his events.”
The Times report also warned that a suspended pool would mean “there would be no cameras to film Mr. Trump” in an emergency, leaving the public “relatively in the dark.” Conservative media figures pushed back on that characterization, pointing out that any network can access pool footage when Real America’s Voice is operating the camera, making the blackout scenario a choice rather than a structural failure.
For the White House, the episode resolves a standoff that began with the president’s decision to cut off three outlets and ended with a broader mix of networks covering him. For the press corps, it leaves unanswered questions about how a pool that once rotated among a fixed set of legacy networks now operates — and who decides who gets in.
Source: www.thegatewaypundit.com — https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/09/leftist-media-boycott-fails-networks-resume-coverage-trump/