Donald Trump silenced as his ban on major media outlets backfires

Donald Trump has been effectively cut off by the mainstream media after leading networks boycotted his event over his ban of several outlets.

Typically, presidential events are covered by pool TV crews supplied by the networks, which take turns filming Trump and sharing the footage among them - splitting the costs.

That footage is then distributed to other outlets in the US and around the world, including Australia.

But after Trump announced he would ban CNN, MSNOW and Politico from White House events, the other media outlets stood in protest against him.

ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC said in a joint statement they would stop providing pool coverage for the president.

As a consequence, a ribbon-cutting ceremony Trump held at the White House went essentially unrecorded.

A broadcast from Newsmax showed the president speaking from a distance, but his speech to the assembled crowd could not be heard.

Democratic Congressman Glenn Ivey mocked the president after Trump's event.

"Restricting press access is already backfiring on the President," Ivey said.

"He’s speaking but we can’t hear it because there isn’t a WH TV pool to capture his audio.

"Although, given what usually comes out of his mouth, maybe they’re doing us a favour."

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CNN, MSNOW and Politico have filed a lawsuit over Trump’s ban.

The lawsuit states the ban "could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles".

A joint statement from the major networks condemned Trump’s ban.

"The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government," the statement read.

"No administration should restrict a news organisation because it objects to its reporting."

Trump has defended his position in a post on Truth Social.

"The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish. It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America," Trump wrote. 

"It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control. It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!"

Could the same happen in Australia?

Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom executive director Peter Greste said that while there were legal avenues that have allowed the three outlets to file a lawsuit against the president in the US, media in Australia did not have that same protection.

“President Trump banning three correspondents from the White House strikes an awfully familiar chord for Australian media, after One Nation booted journalists from a press conference in Melbourne earlier this month,” he said.

“All we have is the “implied right of political communication” – a vague idea that the High Court has inferred from the Constitution and that at least one justice has said might not even exist.”

One Nation has banned media outlets, including the ABC and the Guardian, from press events for what Pauline Hanson described as ‘unfair’ reporting.

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Greste, an Australian journalist who spent 13 months in an Egyptian jail, called for the federal government to adopt legislation to protect media freedom.

“No individual politicians or political party should have the right to choose whether a media outlet can scrutinise them. This is democracy 101, when transparency and accountability are lost, citizens are deprived of their right and ability to know what is going on,” he said.

“Any politician deciding who gets to scrutinise them is practicing censorship, and Australians have weak protections for press freedom and freedom of speech. In a democracy, that is a dangerous position to be in.”

Back in the US, the pool boycott was not in place when Trump was visiting the home of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

"I told the president we would have all the members of the press here on the lawn and that is something that I believe in," Mamdani said while standing beside Trump.

Trump then bragged of how many reporters had come to the press conference in New York.

"They said they were going to boycott me but they never boycott me," the president said.

"Look at all that press."

Earlier on Monday, the White House announced Trump TV, a 24-hour YouTube streaming channel collecting highlights of his presidency.

A video promoting the channel featured high-energy music with a montage of characters from popular shows like Seinfeld, Friends and Family Guy talking about watching TV.

At the time of writing, the channel was livestreaming a replay of Trump's second inauguration event.

The move comes as the White House press secretary role remains vacant several weeks after Karoline Leavitt’s departure.