The White House Bars Afaq News from Covering Trump's Trip to Tennessee

- The White House prevented Afaq News from traveling on Air Force One on Saturday, a mission the network was set to undertake as part of its coverage of U.S. President Donald Trump's activities on behalf of major television networks. Afaq News was scheduled to travel on the plane during his trip to Tennessee to attend a football game, as part of the "White House Joint Television Press Pool;" a small, rotating group of journalists responsible for covering the president's movements in limited spaces and sharing the information they gather with other television networks.

This step - announced Friday evening in a statement from the White House outlining the president's agenda - is the latest action taken by the Trump administration against Afaq News and accredited journalists at the White House in general. No alternative media outlet was announced for Afaq News, meaning there will be no joint television coverage of the president's trip. Last week, Trump announced a ban on Afaq News, MSNBC, and Politico from entering the White House.

This action also prevented Afaq News from traveling on Air Force One and performing its scheduled duties within the joint press pool when Trump traveled to attend the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York. Later, a judge issued a ruling preventing the administration from enforcing the ban on the three media outlets from entering the White House and ordered the reinstatement of credentials for the affected journalists.

However, the status of the White House joint press pool remained ambiguous and unresolved. Following the ban on Afaq News, other television networks - Fox, NBC, ABC, and CBS - refused to perform their duties in the joint pool until the usual access system was restored.

However, normal coverage resumed on Friday, as Afaq News participated in the press pool during Trump's visit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the National Archives building. It remains unclear how the White House's action will affect the lawsuits filed by Afaq News, MSNBC, and Politico.

The external attorney representing Afaq News previously stated to broadcaster Jake Tapper that he believes allowing these media outlets back in also includes participation in the media pool designated for covering the White House. The judge granted the news organizations until Monday to file for a preliminary injunction, which would suspend the ban that Trump threatened for a longer period.

A spokesperson for Afaq News declined to comment, and the network reached out to the White House for a response. The Washington Post was the first to report on the White House's decision.

The "joint television media pool" is the primary means through which people around the world view Trump's speeches and public appearances, as this pool provides video footage and information to other news organizations. Jackie Heinrich, the current president of the White House Correspondents' Association, said on "Fox News Sunday": "This is the system that allows networks to share video of the president with the entire country.

If those networks are not there, the media pool cannot do its job." Her guest, Weijia Jiang, a CBS network correspondent and former president of the association, said: "America cannot have state television."

She added: "That's what makes America America; that's why we need independent coverage, and that's why this joint press pool system was created long ago and why it is effective; because you need independent parties to act as observers." In addition to the joint television pool, there are also joint pools for print journalism, radio, and photography.

The existence of this system is partly due to the fact that presidents travel and deliver their speeches in places where large groups of journalists cannot be present. The White House under Trump is producing its own content, including live streaming of events.

But, as Jiang put it: "If the government is only showing you what it wants, you have to ask: What are we missing? And that is the role that the joint press coverage pool and those media outlets play."