CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued the Trump administration Monday after their journalists were barred from the White House, bringing the president’s objections to their reporting before a federal judge in a case involving press freedom and access to government.
The lawsuit followed President Donald Trump’s announcement Friday that the three organizations would lose White House access. Trump accused them of reporting false information about him and his administration and said he might add other outlets to the list. By Saturday, journalists attempting to enter the White House had been turned away after their press credentials were disabled.
The organizations allege that the administration revoked their credentials because it disliked their coverage. Their complaint argues that excluding journalists on that basis violates the First Amendment’s protections for speech and the press. It also alleges that disabling their credentials without notice or an opportunity to contest the decision violated their Fifth Amendment right to due process.
The three outlets are asking a federal judge in Washington, D.C., for an emergency order restoring access while the lawsuit proceeds. The court has not ruled on their allegations. Trump has defended the ban, saying he is acting against reporting he considers false rather than against a free press.
The dispute reached beyond the three plaintiffs Monday when the White House prevented CNN from carrying out its scheduled television pool assignment. CNN had been set to travel with Trump to New York for events connected to the United Nations General Assembly and provide video for distribution to other news organizations.
Five networks share those assignments: CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News. After CNN was blocked, the television pool announced that it would send no replacement crew to cover events designated for presidential pool coverage. The five networks also issued a joint statement opposing restrictions on a news organization because an administration objects to its reporting.
That decision left the affected events without a shared presidential TV pool feed. It did not end all coverage of Trump’s activities. Other reporters and photographers continued working, and cameras outside the presidential TV pool could still record video.
The case places two questions before the court: whether the White House excluded the outlets because of their reporting, and whether it gave their journalists the process required before withdrawing access. The plaintiffs point to Trump’s public statements as evidence of the reason for the ban. The administration will have an opportunity to answer those claims.
The First Amendment protects freedom of speech and freedom of the press, including reporting critical of a president. Those protections are among the constitutional limits on government power that distinguish the United States from a dictatorship. They do not give journalists unrestricted entry to every presidential event. The judge must determine how those principles apply to the White House’s decision to bar these particular outlets.
As the lawsuit proceeds, CNN, MS NOW and Politico are seeking the return of their journalists’ credentials. The television networks, meanwhile, have left CNN’s pool assignment unfilled, extending the dispute from the White House gates to the footage available from the president’s events.