“This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today.” With that line on Monday, September 21, CNN, MS NOW and Politico took the White House to court over a ban that had cut off their reporters three days earlier.
Trump announced the ban on September 18, after accusing the three outlets of publishing false and unfavorable coverage. DW reported that he had said they reported “fiction” and “lied.” By the next day, the entry badges of their reporters had been disabled. The organizations say their credentials were pulled “without notice or process” because the administration “objected to our reporting.” Their suit rests on the First and Fifth Amendments.
The complaint says the Constitution “does not allow a president or any other government official to deprive the press of their First Amendment rights and liberty and property interests with no notice or process based solely on his dislike of the content of their reporting.” In their joint statement, the three added: “Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”
Trump’s answer
Trump replied on social media the same day. “The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish,” he wrote. He said the administration was instead “instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer.”
DW placed the ban in a long line of clashes with the press. At the start of his first term in 2017, Trump called the press “the enemy of the American people.”
The pool goes dark
The ban reached beyond the three plaintiffs. CNN is one of five organizations, with ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC, that make up the White House television pool. The broadcasters split the cost of covering the president, take turns organizing the work and share the footage with outlets across the country.
CNN was scheduled to cover Trump’s trip to New York for the UN General Assembly on Monday, but with the ban in place it could not supply a pool feed. In response, the other networks suspended their coverage. Bryan Boughton, who runs the Fox News Washington bureau and chairs the TV pool, announced it in an email: “This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties. There will be no replacement pool put in place.”
DW followed suit. The effect was to remove the most important video source for events at the White House. All five networks also issued a joint statement: “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”
A federal judge, U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly, ordered the credentials restored three days after the filing, on September 24.
Sources
- CNN, MS NOW and Politico Expand Lawsuit Against Trump Over White House Press Ban | Law Commentary
- US news outlets sue Trump over White House ban
