Can Trump ban the news?
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Why did Trump ban CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House?
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And good morning. This is the daily
Oz.
This is the Daily Oz.
This is the Daily Oz.
Oh, now it makes sense.
Good
morning and welcome to the Daily Oz. It's Tuesday, the 22nd of September. I'm Emma Gillespie. I'm Billy FitzSimons. This week, three major newsrooms lost their access to the White House overnight. We're talking badges deactivated, reporters turned away at the gate. Because
they're fake news. Uh uh you get so tired of reading and seeing fake news.
So can the US President just ban the news? Today we're gonna break down why it happened, whether it's actually legal, and what history tells us about how these fights usually end.
So, um US President Donald Trump has banned CNN, MSNow and Politico from accessing the White House. I want to get into how that is actually possible, but first, what do we need to know about those publications involved?
Yeah, so CNN, I'll start with, it's probably the most well-known of this group. We're talking about one of America's biggest news networks. It's a 24-hour news channel. So it's a cable channel, like a pay TV channel. But of course, beyond that, CNN has its digital publications, social media, podcasting, videos, the whole gamut. And then similarly, we have MS Now. If you haven't heard of MS Now, it was recently rebranded from MSNBC. It's another 24-hour news network. It is generally seen as a little bit more left leaning than CNN. CNN is closer to the center, you know, according to a lot of different analysis websites that rank US news outlets on their political leanings. And then we have Politico. This is a Washington-based digital news outlet, really known for its deep political analysis.
Politico's focus as a news publisher is exclusively around politics and stories to do with politics. So on Friday, local time, Trump announced on Truth Social that he was banning those three outlets from the White House effective. immediately.
What are the backgrounds and political leanings of the three banned outlets?
He said this was, quote, as a result of their constant reporting of fake news, media outlets shouldn't be able to constantly write or report fiction and lies. A few hours later, Trump was at a press conference in the White House where he was asked about that. Here is what he told reporters in the room.
You get so tired of reading and seeing fake news. When you look at CNN it's just fake. That's why their ratings are no good. When you look at MS Now, which used to be uh MSNBC, which some people call MS D N C Democratic, National Committee. Uh it's fake news. It's fake news.
Then the next morning, CNN reporter Betsy Klein tried to go to work. She was told her press pass had been deactivated at the White House. A secret service agent said that he didn't have any information for her, but he referred her to the press office. Then MS Now correspondent Akala Gardner walked through two security gates to get into the White House just fine. But then when it came to scan her badge, it didn't scan. An officer told her it was disabled and asked her to hand it over. And then a politico reporter, Cheyenne Hasslett, was also turned away later that day, which I think is not necessarily a development that was guaranteed. Often Trump is known for saying these kinds of things about traditional media outlets, but the fact that there was immediate follow-through really struck a nerve and has made headlines around the world.
Just to tease out the context a little bit more, it is normal. I mean, even here in Australia, um, for the Daily Oz, if we want to go to Canberra and go to Parliament House, we have to be accredited in order to do that. And so The government does kind of control what media is at the press conferences and all of that, but it's highly unusual, um, not just here in Australia, but also in the US with the White House, for that accreditation to be taken away once you have it.
Yeah, and we're also talking about three reporters who work in the White House as reporters, as part of the White House press corps every day. They were not visitors, they were not, you know, seeking special permissions.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why did Trump ban CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House?
0:00–2:28
2
What are the backgrounds and political leanings of the three banned outlets?
2:28–5:23
3
How did the White House actually enforce the badge deactivations?
5:23–8:20
4
Is it legal for a president to block news organizations from White House access?
8:20–11:32
5
What does ‘viewpoint discrimination’ mean for First Amendment rights?
11:32–15:10
6
How have courts ruled on similar press‑access disputes in the past?
15:10–17:23
7
What impact could the ban have on the White House press pool and smaller outlets?
17:23–19:07
8
What are the likely outcomes of the legal challenges the outlets may file?
19:07–20:59