TV networks unite against Trump's White House media ban
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The five major TV networks that rotate responsibility for pooled video coverage of President Trump issued a unified statement Monday in solidarity with the outlets he banned from White House grounds.
Why it matters: By backing CNN, MS NOW and Politico, the TV giants signaled they are willing to use their combined leverage to pressure the White House into reinstating access.
- The networks' power is practical and cultural: They collectively manage the pooled video that puts the presidency on television, the medium that made Trump a national celebrity and that he has long closely monitored.
Zoom in: "The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting," ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, Fox News and CNN said in a statement.
Zoom out: The statement comes shortly after CNN, MS NOW, and Politico on Monday said they will file a First Amendment lawsuit against the White House, arguing the president and the administration violated their rights by blocking their access over the weekend.
- The lawsuit is a historic show of solidarity amongst the banned outlets.
Reality check: Figures within the administration have argued the president has the right to ban reporters from certain spaces, but legal experts argue precedent overwhelmingly backs the news outlets.
- Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, told Axios the ban could be challenged as illegal retaliation for the outlets' coverage and as viewpoint discrimination.
- While officials can grant exclusive interviews, they can't open a space broadly to journalists but restrict certain outlets just because they dislike their reporting, he said.
The big picture: White House press pool outlets have a history of defending one another when persecuted or facing political pressure.
- In 2009, major TV outlets refused to participate in an Obama administration interview unless Fox News was included, which the White House eventually did.
- "The WHCA stands in defense of our colleagues at CNN, MSNOW, and POLITICO who are being singled out for doing their jobs," Fox News anchor and White House Correspondents' Association president Jacqui Heinrich said in a statement Friday when President Trump first said he planned to ban the select outlets.
Disclosure: The author is a CNN contributor.
