Reporters from three different major news outlets in the United States - CNN, Politico, and MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) - have been banned from the White House, and consequently hindered in their ability to report on Trump and his administration.
When asked why his team had banned journalists from these outlets,
Trump said it was because they "they purposely write negative news" and "defamatory stories" about him and his administration. In other words: he's trying to pressure and intimidate the press into only writing things he likes.
Sign the petition to demand an immediate reversal of this media ban!When reporters with these three organizations arrived to work on Saturday, September 19, they discovered that their badges to access the White House no longer worked. When they alerted security staff to this deactivation issue,
staff confiscated their badges and turned them away.
This is very clearly a direct violation of the
First Amendment. The U.S. Constitution guarantees
the right to have a free press, which includes the right to criticize, question, and challenge the government. Picking and choosing which news organizations have access to the ruling government based on the favorability of their coverage is a move seen primarily with authoritarian regimes.
The Trump administration's move to ban certain news outlets was so shocking that news organizations
across the political spectrum rallied together to oppose it.
Fox News, NBC, CBS, ABC, and CNN all worked together to file a joint lawsuit against this ban. They also issued a joint statement highlighting the importance of "defending the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports."
These news organizations also usually work together to create a TV press "pool" that helps each other to gather information, ask questions, and gather video and audio recordings.
All four non-banned outlets agreed to show solidarity with their peers by suspending pool coverage entirely. This has meant that when Trump attempts to get attention with stunts like a recent ribbon-cutting, there was no microphone available to even capture what he was saying. Non-TV outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Associated Press are also adjusting their coverage to help participate in a
"collective effort."As an MS NOW
spokesperson said, the White House "belongs to the American people and the decisions made inside are funded by our tax dollars". It has no right to deny access to the free press.
A judge has
now responded to the lawsuit saying Trump's team must temporarily restore access to the banned journalists, but it's only temporary, and we're not sure what Trump will do in response.
We're proud to see such a wide and diverse group of media outlets standing together to support the First Amendment, the Constitution, and the freedom of the press. Now we need Trump's administration to show that they understand they do not have unbridled power to do whatever they want. Sign the petition to demand the immediate reversal of the White House press ban! 