What is the White House Press Pool?

The Justice Department’s decision to investigate the five television stations that make up the White House television pool for potential antitrust violations has thrust the decades-old news pool system into the spotlight.

The investigation comes after Trump last month banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House grounds. Members of the TV pool responded by refusing pool coverage for four days initially, and then twice when CNN was prevented from carrying out its pool duties. That means video coverage of Trump was limited for six days, including his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

While the Justice Department investigates, the three media outlets CNN, MS NOW and Politico are challenging Trump’s policies in federal court, in a case that has implications for the long-standing system that journalists in the United States and around the world rely on to cover the presidency.

What is the press pool?

The White House Press Pool is a group of media outlets that share video, editorial information and costs of covering senior officials and events involving the president around the world. Under this system, designated “poolers” for the day represent the entire press to document newsworthy events and serve as an intermediary between the president and the public.

This arrangement allows the pool to distribute videos and information to its members in situations where space is limited, such as during Oval Office events or Cabinet meetings.

The White House press corps has separate pools for print, radio, photography and television. Press pools cover high-level administrative officials, government departments and government events.

The TV news pool refused to provide video and editorial coverage of Trump before a federal judge temporarily blocked the ban while a lawsuit filed by the three affected outlets continues. The television pool also refused to provide coverage in subsequent days when the White House barred CNN from Air Force One, preventing the network from completing its scheduled duties.

But TV poolers continued to cover other administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who did not participate in banning certain media outlets.

How does it work?

Poolers follow the president, giving the public insight into his events, speeches and even his health. For example, a video shot by Pool TV captured the moment Trump was shot at a rally in 2024; later, images of his bruised hand sparked questions about his health.

A press corps typically accompanies the president whenever he leaves the White House, including when he is on vacation or dining out. Before the age of social media, the president’s proximity to the press was one of the only ways to immediately convey a message to Americans, such as during a sudden national crisis.

Poolers reported on major planned and spontaneous events that shaped the course of history. Former WHCA President Steven Portnoy wrote that poolers were in the motorcade when President John F. Kennedy was shot. They witnessed the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan and covered for President George W. Bush during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Who is part of the TV pool?

The network television pool includes the five major networks: NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and Fox. The networks take turns sending a reporter and a camera crew for scheduled and spontaneous administrative coverage.

The designated pooler widely distributes editorial content and video feeds to other networks and subscribers in the pool, which may include media outlets that may not have the resources to film and distribute the coverage themselves. Subscribers to the pool include media outlets like Newsmax, One America News Network, NewsNation and C-SPAN.

International media outlets can also subscribe to the pool, allowing them to use network-shot videos and editorial advice in their global coverage. When world leaders visit, as Xi did this week, the pool includes space for foreign media. Print, broadcast and still images are represented by their own separate pools.

How did the swimming pool system come about?

The pool system has been in place for decades in both Democratic and Republican administrations.

Journalists have used a pool system to cover the presidency as far back as World War II, when poolers traveled with Franklin D. Roosevelt, according to the White House Correspondents’ Association.

Who controls the content of the TV pool?

The journalists who make up the pool determine the content of the coverage. The White House may shoot and distribute its own video, but the pool system provides content independent of the administration in power.

The five networks that make up the TV pool make daily coverage decisions about which network covers an event for the pool and how it is covered. The networks are in regular contact with each other to coordinate pool coverage.

The Trump administration also created a “secondary TV pool” position. However, while this position allows a media outlet invited by the White House to participate in coverage where space is limited, the “secondary” pooler only reports for their media outlet, not the broader pool of journalists. They do not distribute video or editorial content to shared subscribers.

Has the White House already banned certain media?

This appears to be the first time a president has decided to ban three major media outlets from the White House.

While the White House Correspondents’ Association traditionally determined which media outlets would be allowed to be part of the print media pool, the television networks oversaw the television pool. The Trump administration, however, has at times moved to block outlets.

For example, the administration moved to block the Associated Press from the Oval Office and Air Force One last year after refusing to change its style for the Gulf of Mexico after Trump renamed it the “Gulf of America”; the legal challenge to the AP’s ban is ongoing. Separately, the administration removed The Wall Street Journal from the media group traveling to Scotland with Trump in 2025, in response to the newspaper’s article about an alleged birthday card the president allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.

In 2018, during his first term, Trump temporarily revoked then-CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s credentials after a controversial interaction at a news conference — but took no action to limit CNN’s access as a news outlet. A judge temporarily ordered the administration to restore Acosta’s credentials, and days later the administration permanently reinstated his pass.

And even though the president is supposed to always travel with pool reporters, Trump avoided the pool when he took a secret flight out of Türkiye this summer. The president entered Air Force One, where the pool and other journalists were waiting. The president, however, slipped onto another plane via a catering truck due to security concerns over the war in Iran.