A busy Monday has unfolded as ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, CNN, Fox News, and MS NOW issued a joint statement condemning the White House for banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from reporting from the grounds and covering the president.
“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,” said the statement in a rare show of solidarity.
This statement comes as CNN, MS NOW, and Politico jointly sued the Trump administration after President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the three news outlets would be barred from reporting from the White House.
During a Q&A inside the Oval Office on Friday afternoon, the president, when asked why he was banning the three news outlets, initially said he had “no reason,” adding that it was due to cumulative stories “over the last two years.”
Reporters from the three outlets said over the weekend that security denied them access to the White House grounds, telling the journalists the orders came from above.
CNN, MS NOW, and Politico provided another joint statement on the lawsuit on Monday, saying, “This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes.”
The statement went on to say the White House revoked the journalists’ credentials without any notice or process because they objected to reporting from these outlets.
“Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference,” the statement said.
In a social media post on Monday, Trump said he cherishes the free press but is “instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS.”
All of this is happening as the five broadcast and cable networks have indicated that they will temporarily stop providing pool coverage of the president after CNN was stripped of its pool assignment by the White House. CNN was the designated network to cover the president on Monday, but the network was relieved of its duties by the White House.
On Monday’s edition of MS NOW’s Morning Joe, political correspondent Jonathan Lemire responded to the news of the lawsuit filed by the news organizations, telling co-host Joe Scarborough, “Let’s be clear: this will not stop the press from doing its job. That will not stop journalists, MS NOW, and the other two outlets doing their job and reporting on the Trump administration and bringing what we learn to our viewers, to the American public. That is the importance of a free press.”
