WASHINGTON: The White House Correspondents’ Association announced on Thursday that CNN had turned down several requests to allow White House pool reporters to cover the first presidential debate between Republican front-runner Donald Trump and incumbent Joe Biden inside the studio.
In order to keep the American public informed, the president is accompanied on both domestic and foreign trips by a press pool consisting of representatives from major news organizations such as Reuters. The press pool is also typically granted access to any event where the president speaks or publicly appears.
White House Correspondents’ Association President Kelly O’Donnell said, “WHCA is exceptionally concerned that CNN has turned down our repeated requests to include the White House travel pool inside the studio.
In a world where the unexpected does happen, the pool is there to answer “what ifs?” and to offer “context and insight by direct observation and not through the lens of the television production,” the speaker explained.
In addition, the network will let still photographers from other publications cover the candidates in the studio and will give other networks access to a television feed of the debate.
For the first face-off, CNN has established numerous additional guidelines, such as two commercial breaks, no props, and muted microphones unless the candidates are acknowledged to speak.
In a statement, the network said that it is part of the WHCA and values the organisation’s work to advance press freedom and access. However, CNN said that the debate was closed to the media and took place in a CNN studio without an audience.
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