Senior managers from the five leading television networks – ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox, and NBC News – are reportedly banding together to push back against Donald Trump.
Representatives from the leading five television networks have conducted a series of conference calls to discuss pushing back on restrictions by Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
The Washington Post reports that senior managers from ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox, and NBC News met beginning on Monday, “to hash out demands about access to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign after Trump officials last week threatened to ‘blacklist’ reporters who left a designated media “pen” during rallies for the presidential front-runner.”
According to a separate report from The Washington Post, last Tuesday “Trump’s campaign staff members tried to block several of them from doing so, refusing to let reporters leave a barricaded work area they called “the pen.”
After CNN reporter Noah Gray left “the pen” to document a group of protesters who unveiled a sign reading “Migrant lives matter,” Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski turned to campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks and said: “Hey: Tell Noah, get back in the pen or he’s f—— blacklisted,” according to a recording of the incident.
And this isn’t the first instance when issues arose between Trump’s campaign and reporters. Last Thursday, an aid to Trump barred Buzzfeed White House reporter Evan McMorris-Santoro from a campaign event in Newton, Iowa; and, according to The Washington Post, other news agencies deemed unfriendly to Trump have been restricted to include: the Huffington Post, Fusion, Univision and the Des Moines Register.
The Washington Post also reports that reporters “clashed” with Lewandowski and Trump press secretary Hope Hicks last Friday after reporters were ordered back to the “press pen” under threat of losing their press credentials after attempting to interview participants during a campaign event in Spartanburg, N.C.
According to Politico, “A reporter from NBC News was told to return to the media area on Friday as she tried to interview attendees at a Trump rally before the event began.”
There is also the incident this past August when Trump had news anchor Jorge Ramos, who works for Univision and Fusion, thrown out of a campaign event after he attempted to ask Trump about immigration.
Politico reports that “It’s unlikely a formal unified message will be sent to the Trump campaign unless all the networks agree on a response,” adding that “The plan, according to one network news executive familiar with the discussions, is to have a call with Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and work through their issues.”
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