As was noted in yesterday’s open forum, Trump threatened to ban news outlets he doesn’t like from the White House grounds. This morning the first such bans were in place, as the NYT reports: CNN, MS NOW and Politico Barred From White House After Trump Announces Ban.
Journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico were denied access to the White House grounds on Saturday, a day after President Trump announced a ban on three news organizations because of reporting he disliked.
[…]
Mr. Trump abruptly announced on Friday afternoon that he would ban MS NOW, CNN and Politico from the White House, a stark escalation in his ever-expanding battles with the news media.
The president attributed the ban to his displeasure with the outlets’ coverage of his administration. “There’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon.
“Now, if they want to write them, that’s fine, but I don’t have to let them into my — into the people’s house,” the president added.
It is worth noting that the administration banned the AP last year because they wouldn’t call the “Gulf of Mexico” the “Gulf of America” (litigation is still ongoing). Part of that conflict was the administration taking away the White House Correspondents Association’s role in determining who gets access (which, by definition, is finite, and so choices do have to be made). This debate should not be, by the way, one of whether this is legal or not, nor do I think you can ultimately make the case that CNN has a First Amendment right to be in the Oval Office. I note this not to dismiss the situation (not at all), but simply to try and avoid distractions over dead ends.
To be clear: this is definitely an attack on the free press. There is a reasonable norm that major news outlets should have access to the White House, regardless of whether those outlets are seen as friendly to the administration or not. Some level of neutrality in handing out press passes is a good thing, and making access into a political choice is an attack on the press as a general matter. It is an attempt to skew coverage and press behavior that is not commensurate with democratic governance.
This is part of an ongoing (see the Pentagon press corps as well) attempt by this administration to attack reporters and to bully them into submission. Reporters crave access (see, e.g., the Correspondents’ Dinner), and Trump is clearly trying to work the refs to get better coverage. And, I expect, that some reporters will try to soften their approach to keep a grasp on access. They desperately want to be in the room.
The bottom line remains that this president does not seem himself as constrained by any responsibilities, proprieties, or norms of democratic governance, which involves tolerating negative stories, as well as treating the White House like something held in the public trust and not private property.
This is more personalism on his part, and it is authoritarian bullying. It is also, no doubt, an attempt at distraction from high gas prices, inflation, and other failures of this administration (you know, “negative stories” that happen to be true). I expect voters will react more to the price of gas and beef than they will to our glorious new exactly the same deal as we had over Greenland or whether CNN can ask Trump questions directly in the Oval.
Some clips to add to the whole thing:
