CNN was left off the Air Force One media schedule for President Donald Trump’s trip to Tennessee on Saturday, extending a dispute between the White House and several news organisations over press access.
CNN had been scheduled to travel with the president for a college football game in Knoxville. A White House note released on Friday night did not list the broadcaster, and CNN said no other television outlet was named as its replacement in the tentative schedule.
The BBC said it had requested comment from the White House.
Dispute follows broader White House access ban
The Air Force One decision came after Trump barred journalists from CNN, Politico and MS NOW from the White House, accusing the outlets of producing “fiction or lies” about his administration.
The three organisations challenged the restrictions in court and argued that the bans violated constitutional protections for speech and press freedom.
A federal judge later made a preliminary finding that the broader White House restrictions were likely unconstitutional and ordered access restored for the affected journalists while the case proceeds.
That ruling concerned White House access; it did not itself establish a general right to a seat on Air Force One.
Reuters reported that legal experts viewed the broader restrictions as facing serious constitutional challenges because press access rules cannot be imposed arbitrarily or as punishment for a publication’s viewpoint.
Press-pool tensions continue
CNN and MS NOW said some of their journalists were still denied access to a White House event after the court order.
Four television networks that participate in the White House pool rotation with CNN — ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC — had temporarily paused video coverage of the president in solidarity with the excluded outlets. Regular television coverage resumed on Friday after reporters were again allowed onto the White House grounds.
The White House also launched its own streaming channel, Trump TV, ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Trump was scheduled to attend the University of Tennessee-University of Texas football game at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville on Saturday.
