Trump bans Major US News Outlets from White House Press Corps – An Examination into Trump’s Relationship with the Media
By Luke Collins
In what appears to be Trump’s next phase of creating an American oligarchy, CNN, MS Now and Politico have been banned from the White House press pool. The ban was announced on Friday 18th of September on Trump’s Truth Social platform, with the President accusing the outlets of “constantly writing or reporting FICTION and LIES”. [1] The three media outlets responded on Monday 21st September by announcing that they would sue the President (Trump has been sued over 800 times to date, if you count civil litigation and administration lawsuits), stating that they would fight to “protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes.” [2]
This marks the latest clampdown on critics, with Trump using the Justice Department to go after political opponents such as Gavin Newsom and Tim Walz, the respective Governors of California and Minnesota, as well as former allies, like former FBI Director James Comey and former Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Prosecutors like former New York Attorney General Letitia James and former Special Counsel to the Department, Jack Smith, haven’t been safe either; nor have organisations including law firms and universities that dare to criticise Trump. Trump popularised the term “fake news” when he first ran for office back in 2016, so it’s fair to say that his relationship with the media is tumultuous or ‘symbiotic.’ As Trump himself put it, a “mutually profitable two-way relationship.” [3]
Trump’s announcement that CNN, MS Now and Politico would be banned from the White House sent shockwaves across the US media. Reporters from the three organisations were unaware of the ban until they attempted to go to work on Saturday 19th September, and were instead “denied access and had their press credentials confiscated.” [4] Trump’s justification for the ban was that the organisations did not write fairly about him and pleaded for “just a semblance of truth.” [5] When reminded of his presidential oath to uphold the Constitution and protect the First Amendment, which allows freedom of speech, Trump stated that the courts “should not allow fake news to be written day after day after day.” [6]
Trump seemed to accidentally let slip the real intention of the ban when asking a reporter to clarify their question, responding, “Oh, the ban on the free press, right?” [7] Trump seems to think it is wrong that news outlets are allowed to report negatively on his administration’s actions. However, he claims no such problem exists and that his only opposition is allowing it in the White House, stating he has a right not to allow them into the “People’s House.” There is no constitutional basis for Trump’s press ban, and it seems to signal that he wants to take a more tyrannical approach to the media.
His decisions have been backed up by his cronies, with Vice President JD Vance stating that the outlets’ reporting was “effectively propaganda,” [8] and Attorney General Todd Blanche reiterating that reporting in The White House “was a privilege, not a right.” [9] Trump’s motivations behind this are unclear, especially as he is in the midst of an unpopular war against Iran and facing the midterms next month, in which there are doubts that the Republicans will be able to retain control of the House and Senate.
The media outlets have fired back, suing the President on Monday 21st September. They stated that they would “defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports.” [10] The three outlets reiterated that they would stand with their reporters against the administration, and they had the backing of the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA). The WHCA President, Jacqui Heinrich, stated that this issue spoke to the core of “the right of the American people to receive a full and independent account of the activities, policies and decisions of whoever occupies the nation’s highest office.” [11]
In solidarity with their fellow reporters, the five US News outlets responsible for live video coverage of White House press conferences refused to show coverage of Trump in the White House on Monday as he prepared to go to New York for the UN General Assembly. These outlets include CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, and surprisingly, Fox News, the right-wing 24-hour news channel, who are normally supportive of Trump, proving that the issue of free press crossed the political spectrum. They were joined by The Washington Post and The New York Times, who did not share images of Trump that day. The lack of news media led to a gaffe where Trump participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the White House South Lawn streamed on the White House website, but the lack of microphones led to his comments being inaudible. The next day at the UN General Assembly, Trump told CNN White House Correspondent Kaitlin Collins, “You should not be here,” [12] forgetting that the ban is only supposed to apply to the White House.
On Thursday 24th September, the press ban was declared to be unconstitutional by a federal judge. That day, some CNN and MS Now reporters were denied access to cover Chinese President Xi Jinping’s White House visit, but only the next day were all reporters once again allowed in. The judge who delivered the verdict concluded that the ban on outlets “violated their constitutional due process rights.” [13] Furthermore, Judge Timothy Kelly dismissed Trump’s claim that the news outlets represented “a threat to our national security” [14] as the President “made no mention of this in his initial announcement.” [15 However, the implementation of the act was only blocked for 14 days, so the organisations have requested that “the ban remain blocked until the case is resolved.” [16]
Whether the ban remains or not may be irrelevant, as according to a spokesperson for The Freedom of the Press Foundation, the intention of the ban is really to “make journalists think twice about reporting critically on the administration.” [17] As for what happens next, it seems that the news outlets have a strong case in arguing for the unconstitutionality of Trump’s press ban.
However, this is only the latest escapade in a series of Trump’s media bans. In February of last year, he banned The Associated Press from entering the Oval Office over their refusal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico by Trump’s preferred name, ‘Gulf of America.’ He has sued various news outlets, such as The New York Times, CBS, and even the BBC, over edits of his speeches on Panorama. And Trump has even pressured the head of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, to cancel ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ for comments made in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination (the show was back on air days later).
It has become pretty clear that Trump’s goal is to “undermine public confidence in the press” [18] and settle scores with anyone he deems as wronging him.
Bibliography
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Campbell, Lucy and Robert Mackey, ‘Trump bans CNN, MS Now and Politico from White House’ in the Guardian (2026) (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/18/trump-bans-cnn-msnow-politico-white-house) (1 Oct. 2026)
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J. Frank, BrieAnna, ‘Trump’s media ban fight isn’t over. What comes next’, USAToday, 30 Sept. 2026, (Trump’s media ban fight isn’t over. What comes next)
Politico, ‘Trump’s Most Important Relationship Is Ending. And the Break-Up Isn’t Pretty.’ in POLITICO (2025) (https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/04/18/trump-media-history-ap-apprentice-00271192) (3 Oct. 2026)
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