CNN, MS NOW and Politico Sue Trump Over White House Ban

At a glance
- According to Reuters, CNN, MS NOW, and Politico filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Washington, DC, to restore their White House access after their journalists' press credentials were revoked without proper notice or a formal process.

• The lawsuit argues that the government cannot restrict journalists because of disagreement with their reporting.
• Trump announced the ban on September 18, accusing the outlets of what he called “fake news.”
• The White House defended the decision, saying the outlets can still report on Trump and speak to administration officials outside the White House.

Context

CNN, MS NOW and Politico are major US news organisations covering national politics and government. This legal battle follows months of tension between the Trump administration and major news organizations over press access and critical coverage and builds on an earlier dispute where the Associated Press faced restrictions and legal action after refusing the administration's preferred terminology for the Gulf of Mexico.

Ultimately, these clashes culminated in the White House deactivating credentials and denying entry to journalists from several prominent outlets. Moreover, after CNN, which was a part of the White House television pool that shared footage of presidential events among major broadcasters, was excluded, ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC suspended the pool's presidential coverage, disrupting a system that allows news organisations to collectively cover the president.

The administration has argued that access to the White House is controlled by the government and does not give news organisations an unrestricted right to enter the building. CNN, MS NOW and Politico, however, argue that the restrictions were imposed because of their reporting.

Why It Matters

The lawsuit has turned a dispute over press access into a legal challenge over the limits of government control and protections for the press. White House access is not simply about where journalists work. Reporters inside the building can attend briefings, question officials and directly observe presidential events. Restricting access can therefore affect how quickly and directly information from the government reaches the public. Moreover, if news organisations lose access because their coverage is criticised by those in power, press access becomes tied to the government's approval of individual outlets.

What We Think

Press access should not become a reward for favourable coverage because the moment government access gets tied to whether journalists are considered friendly or hostile, independent reporting gets placed on a much weaker ground.