White House Launches ‘Trump TV’ Amid Feud With Press - Time Magazine
During a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new helipad in the White House on Monday, the sound of Marine One’s engines drowned out the White House’s feed of Donald Trump’s brief speech. Newsmax, which was also broadcasting the event, had a host comment on their muted coverage: “There’s no microphone because the pool cameras aren’t there.”
But as major networks boycotted pool coverage of the President over his ban on multiple news outlets, the White House promoted a new 24/7 video feed focusing on Trump and his achievements.
It’s unclear if the YouTube-hosted stream, called “Trump TV,” is meant to potentially fill the void of television pool coverage of the President’s events. But it went live at 7 p.m. ET, according to the White House, with a rerun of Trump’s speech at Mount Rushmore on July 3.
The White House described the stream as putting “top past moments, announcements, and the latest and greatest from the Administration all in one place.” In its social media post, the White House added: “Not every big moment has made it on your tv, now it can.”
Kaelan Dorr, a deputy assistant to the President and head of digital strategy at the White House, posted on social media about how Trump TV would show “the Administration’s greatest hits, unfiltered.” Dorr added: “The press, in some cases, reported inaccurately or not at all on the Administration’s many record breaking accomplishments on behalf of all Americans.”
CNN was supposed to shoot for the pool on Monday, with footage distributed to other networks, but it was one of the three organizations, alongside MS NOW and Politico, which were banned from the White House on Friday over their negative coverage of the President. The outlets have sued the Administration on free speech grounds, and, in seeming solidarity against the ban, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and NBC subsequently suspended television pool coverage of presidential events. “No Administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting,” their joint statement said.
Trump TV’s rollout coinciding with the ban on traditional media outlets has only fueled criticism of the Trump Administration’s efforts to control narratives about the President.
Gavin Newsom, the Democratic Governor of California widely seen as a presidential contender for the 2028 election, described “Trump TV” as “state-run.”
“First, Trump banned independent news from the White House,” Newsom posted on social media. “Now, he’s launching what is quite literally state-run TV to try drowning out the fact that he and his corrupt administration are failing the American people. This is truly autocratic behavior from a failed President.”
Democratic U.S. Senator for Arizona Mark Kelly also slammed the Trump Administration’s recent spate of actions in a social media post: “State run media, state owned enterprises, prosecuting political opponents, gifts from foreign countries, selling pardons, massive amounts of money flowing into the President’s bank account, and banners with his head plastered on government buildings. NONE OF THIS IS NORMAL.”
Stephanie Grisham, Trump’s former White House Press Secretary during his first term, suggested on social media that “Trump TV” is similar to what U.S. adversaries use. “You know who else does this? Russia, China, and Iran to name a few…”
Before the launch of Trump TV, former White House Correspondents’ Association President and CBS News senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang already warned on Fox News Sunday about increasing attempts by the government to shape news coverage in light of the press ban.
“America cannot have state TV,” Jiang said. “That’s what makes America America … You need independent actors to be able to be the observers. And if the government is only showing you what it wants, then you have to question: What are we missing?”
