Can the president ban a media outlet from the White House?
President Trump has banned CNN, MSNBC, and Politico from the White House grounds, including the Oval Office and the briefing room, because he does not like their coverage. So can he do that? Honestly, probably not.
Federal courts have consistently ruled that denying press access based on reporting alone violates the First Amendment, and not giving a different, clear reason for the ban violates the Fifth Amendment because you can’t have your liberty like free speech denied by the government without a fair legal process.
The administration, however, says this is legal because it’s just the White House grounds, and they can operate outside it, like on the sidewalk — but the networks have already sued. And the judge hearing the case, who says he’ll rule soon on it, is Trump appointee Timothy Kelly, who heard a similar case with former CNN journalist Jim Acosta in the first Trump term and sided with Acosta.
I guess he’ll do the same here. But here’s what’s unique. Past administrations, both Republican and Democrat, have threatened to ban individual journalists, and some have. In many cases, the bans were overturned. But sometimes if a journalist doesn’t pass, say, a background check or security vetting, the ban gets upheld.
But a blanket ban for a press outlet at the White House is unique, and especially for CNN, a member of the TV pool that’s made up of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News and CNN. This pool dates back to the Eisenhower administration, when it was just three networks, and no president has ever banned one of these now five outlets from the White House, ever.
And those outlets are retaliating in solidarity by not covering the president via the pool. That means not traveling with him and posting photos or videos from his events. And other non TV pool outlets are doing the same, like The New York Times and NPR. What’s also interesting is that the current leader of the pool, because it rotates, is someone from Fox News who’s standing with his media colleagues.
I’m sure this will have more development soon, so follow me, Ben Sheehan and The Contrarian for more.
