The White House has launched a 24-hour streaming channel dubbed “Trump TV”, providing viewers with content from President Donald Trump’s administration as major US television networks suspend coverage of presidential events.
Named “TRUMP TV: The Essentials Station”, the channel is available through the White House website and its YouTube channel. The White House said it would feature major moments from the administration, announcements and the latest developments, with content updated in real time.
“Not every big moment has made it on your tv, now it can,” the White House said.
The launch comes after major US television networks suspended video coverage of Trump’s presidential events following his decision to bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House.
Trump announced the ban on Friday, accusing the three organisations of reporting what he described as “fiction or lies” about his administration. Journalists from the outlets were subsequently denied access to the White House grounds and had their press passes confiscated.
Major networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News, later suspended pooled video coverage of Trump’s events in response to the restrictions on the three outlets.
Trump has described the affected news organisations as “Third Rate Clowns” and “Crooked and Corrupt Press” that “trivialise and demean” his achievements.
The latest dispute follows other changes to White House media access under the Trump administration.
In February, the White House announced that it was taking control of the press pool, which provides journalists with access to the president and had for more than a century been managed by the White House Correspondents’ Association.
The administration also barred Associated Press reporters and photographers from restricted-access areas after the news agency continued to use the term “Gulf of Mexico” instead of “Gulf of America”. The White House had objected to the agency’s terminology.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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