White House launches 'Trump TV' amid rift with media

The White House has launched a new "Trump TV" amid a deepening confrontation with TV networks following US President Donald Trump's ban on three media outlets.

Trump announced on social media on Friday that he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from covering the White House.

In a show of solidarity, major US TV networks suspended pool coverage of the president as of Monday. As a result, some of the events that the president took part in were left without video or audio.

The White House announced on the same day that it had launched "Trump TV," a 24-hour streaming platform using a private video-sharing website. The White House said on social media, "Not every big moment has made it on your tv, now it can."

The broadcast started later in the day. It opened with a video showing the title "TRUMP TV" against the backdrop of clips from various US anime and drama scenes. It then switched to a video of a previous speech by Trump.

The move sparked a flurry of criticism from the opposition Democratic Party's politicians and media reporters. California Governor Gavin Newsom said on social media that Trump is "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." He added, "This is truly autocratic behavior."