Photo Credit: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
On Sept. 24, CNN, MS NOW, and Politico reporters were temporarily regranted access to the White House, as part of a judge’s ruling against a Trump Administration policy that initially banned those reporters from the White House.
The ban was issued by US President Donald Trump on Sept. 18, and he later said on Truth Social that the policy was “as a result of [the news outlets’] constant ‘reporting’ [of] FAKE NEWS!”
Following Trump’s ban, on Sept. 24, US District Judge Timothy Kelly reinstated the reporters’ access to the White House for two weeks.
He said that Trump’s actions are likely unconstitutional, since they ignore the First Amendment, which protects free speech, according to NBC News.
On Oct. 14, CNN CEO Mark Thompson appeared on CNN and said that Kelly’s recent ruling was “a big boost” to CNN and other news agencies.
"This topic is one we're never going to back down from, and no matter how many court cases, investigations, court appearances and all the expense that that entails, we will fight this one to the end," he added.
On Sept. 23, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the White House Correspondents’ Association, and other news and media organizations filed a legal brief backing the three banned outlets.
It states that, "Stripping journalists and news outlets of their rights because of perceived editorial viewpoint violates decades of Supreme Court jurisprudence and is impermissible in any type of forum, including the White House."
Judge Kelly said on Sept. 25 that the news outlets “did not receive notice and an opportunity to be heard before their hard passes were revoked.”
Trump spoke to reporters in the Oval Office on the same day. “There’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories. 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,” he said, according to NPR.
He also spoke about news coverage of his own party, saying that “They purposely write negative news [...] And they do that because they want to try and diminish the Republicans and a Republican administration,” according to The New York Times.
As of publication, the three news outlets, as well as the organizations involved in the legal brief against the White House, remain in court arguing for their access to be permanently reinstated.