News outlet MS Now said its journalists were denied access to the White House grounds on Saturday morning, a day after Donald Trump said he would ban the news channel and two other news outlets, CNN and Politico, from the executive branch complex. The outlet said a reporter and a cameraman had been denied access and had their White House press passes confiscated by the US Secret Service at a security gate outside the West Wing. We will continue to report on the president, the administration and the issues that impact the American people.” Trump’s threat to banish CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House has brought condemnation from first amendment advocates and Democratic officials, among others, as the conflict between the US president and parts of the media sharply escalates ahead of November’s midterm elections.
It has also thrown into stark relief Trump’s attack on press freedom in the US, which has unnerved civil liberties advocates. In a Truth Social post on Friday afternoon, Trump said he would order the removal of the news outlets “effective immediately” for what he claimed was “constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” and said he is considering banning more. Trump did not identify a single infraction, but rather said his decision was “really just cumulative stories over the last two years.
You get sick of it.” The White House Correspondents’ Association, which represents the White House press corps, condemned the move. Trump has long clashed with the media over what he considers slanted coverage of his administration and himself personally, as well as describing a media environment in which the press and his political opponents are in collusion. Last year the was banned form the White House after refusing to acknowledge an executive order changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America.
After Friday’s ban was announced, CNN issued a statement saying that removing its reporters from the grounds could violate the law. Jim Acosta, a former CNN reporter, accused Trump of “taking a meat axe to the free press in this country”. Speaking on MS Now on Friday, Acosta called the latest media bans “a slippery slope” and warned: “We are on the path to having a state media-like system in this country.” Acosta said the media should collectively oppose Trump’s ban.
We’re banning you.’” Press freedom group PEN America said: “Someone needs to explain to President Trump how the first amendment works. As we’ve seen time and time again, this administration’s hostility toward the press is never about the accuracy of news stories, but about its inability to withstand scrutiny of its actions. The White House can’t be allowed to decide which journalists are able to cover the president based on the content of their news coverage.”
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