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

CNN, Politico and MS NOW have sued the Trump administration after their journalists were barred from accessing the White House, escalating an ongoing dispute between the US president and major news organisations.

The three media outlets filed the lawsuit on Monday, at the US District Court in Washington, asking a judge to declare the ban unconstitutional and prevent White House officials from enforcing it.

The organisations said the administration revoked their journalists’ credentials because of objections to their reporting, arguing that the government should not determine what news organisations report.

“Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting,” the organisations said in a joint statement.

They added that allowing the decision to stand would threaten press freedom and the public’s access to independent journalism.

President Donald Trump announced the ban on Friday, accusing the three organisations of publishing what he described as “fiction or lies” about his administration. He later defended the decision on Truth Social, saying the White House was targeting what he called “FAKE NEWS”.

The dispute has also affected the White House television press pool, through which major broadcasters share coverage of presidential events.

ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC subsequently announced that they would suspend their participation in the pool after CNN was prevented from carrying out its scheduled coverage of Trump’s trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

The five networks said the public has a vital interest in receiving accurate and independent information about the government and that news organisations should not be restricted because of their reporting.

CNN had been scheduled to provide live pool coverage of Trump’s trip, but its broadcasting booth inside the White House press area was closed on Monday.

A CNN crew instead reported from a public pavement outside the secured White House grounds.

The White House media position remained vacant, while Real America’s Voice was listed as a secondary crew for Trump’s New York trip.

Read also:

The latest confrontation follows the administration’s earlier dispute with the Associated Press.

In February, the White House restricted AP journalists and photographers from certain locations, including the Oval Office and Air Force One, following the news agency’s continued use of “Gulf of Mexico” instead of “Gulf of America”. AP subsequently filed a lawsuit against the administration.

Trump has also criticised other major news organisations and his administration has pursued legal action involving outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the BBC.

The CNN, Politico and MS NOW lawsuit now puts the administration’s latest restrictions on media access before the US courts, with the First Amendment’s protection of press freedom expected to form a central part of the legal dispute.