US President Donald Trump has followed through on his threat to bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, with the news organisations saying their journalists were denied access after the ban was announced on Friday.
According to US media reports, a reporter and a photographer from MS NOW were prevented from entering the White House on Saturday. Journalists from CNN were also denied access.
Trump said he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House “effective immediately”, warning that other media organisations could follow in what has been described as his latest challenge to press independence.
In a social media post, the US president accused the three outlets of spreading “fake news” and said they “should not be able to continually write or broadcast FANTASY STORIES and LIES when covering the President of the United States”.
Trump added: “More Fake News Media outlets will follow.”
The president said there was no single incident behind the decision, telling reporters in the Oval Office: “Actually, it’s just an accumulation of incidents over the years.”
“I am not obligated to allow them into my home – the people’s home,” he added.
Asked what he meant when he said others would “follow”, the Republican president referred to the New York Times and the Washington Post as “fake news”.
For now, the scope of the ban and its legality remain unclear.
Decades of tradition overturned
The Trump administration has upended a decades-long tradition governing relations between the White House and the press, restricting access for several major news organisations while expanding the presence of newer outlets viewed as more sympathetic to the administration.
In a statement on Saturday, MS NOW said it would continue covering the Trump administration and intended to “take every necessary step to defend our First Amendment rights, as well as the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy”.
CNN said on Friday that it stood behind its White House journalists.
“We have a constitutional right to cover the news without interference or obstruction from the government,” CNN said in a statement. “If President Trump’s threatened ban is implemented, it will represent an unlawful attack on this fundamental and constitutionally protected right.”
Politico said on X that it would “continue to fairly cover the news involving this White House and future ones”.
“We will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights against any effort to restrict them,” it added.
“It is hard to imagine a more blatant violation of the First Amendment,” said Seth Stern of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Jameel Jaffer, executive director of Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute, said the First Amendment prohibits a US president from punishing journalists simply because he dislikes the way they cover events, describing the move as “unconstitutional”.
Long-running dispute with the media
Trump frequently criticised the media during his first term in office and has intensified those attacks since returning to the White House. The Republican president has repeatedly called on television networks to cancel comedy or news programmes he dislikes or which have criticised or mocked him and his administration.
He has also filed multiple lawsuits against media organisations, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the BBC and the Des Moines Register. His defamation lawsuits against ABC and CBS were settled for $15 million and $16 million respectively.
During his first term, the White House sought to revoke or suspend the press credentials of Playboy correspondent Brian Karem and CNN’s Jim Acosta, but federal judges ordered their credentials restored.
Since returning to office, Trump has repeatedly attacked journalists verbally.
Last year, he also barred the Associated Press from the group of reporters covering his movements because the news agency declined to adopt his preferred name for the Gulf of Mexico after he ordered it to be referred to as the “Gulf of America”.
Source: AMNA
