Fake news, more fake news, and even more fake news pop up on our feeds each day, but what happens when fake news is weaponized? On September 18th, the Trump administration banned Politico, MS News, and CNN from the White House Press Pool and banned the networks from the grounds, with President Donald Trump claiming he “disliked their coverage,” according to the NYT. Verbatim from the constitution states, “Congress [The government] shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or the press,” this ban, either infringes upon those inscriptions, defiling the very ideas that have served our country since its beginning.The sweeping and arbitrary ban is a symbol of the administration’s disregard for the First Amendment, which clearly states that “congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” The administration targeting specific media outlets for unfavorable coverage directly goes against this principle.
The networks affected by the ban were all accused of “fake” news, which has also become synonymous to unfavorable coverage towards the administration. The ban of these media outlets thus influences coverage and bias towards White House press, potentially deteriorating the right to a free press. Furthermore, many of these outlets are media titans that many people rely on for their daily news. The average daily number of viewers who watch CNN and MS NOW combined adds up to around one million people, with around 850 thousand visitors to Politico’s website on average per day. All this added up, the ban is likely to directly affect at least 1.75 million people daily. The importance of the barred White House coverage cannot be understated.
The president shared the rationale behind the ban on his social media, claiming: “Fake news should not be allowed in the White House!!! It has gone on far too long, at a tremendous cost to our country.” While showing immense disdain for the banned network, the Trump administration showed no evidence to prove that the reporting was “fake” or misleading and provided no explanation to justify that ban. The administration is continuing this trend, from their past threats and investigations on multiple networks by the Federal Communications Commission, alongside Trump’s sweeping sanctions and targeting of law firms that hired people he disagreed with or spoke against him. President Trump and his cabinet have decided to either completely snub the concept of the First Amendment, or to actively deface the values it stands for. As a member of the IBA Human Rights Committee asserted, “We are seeing the gravest assault on freedom of speech at least since the McCarthy era, perhaps the nation’s history.” Access to the press pool may be a privilege, but the manner in which the executive branch revoked the permissions is a complete trampling of Freedom of Speech and Press.
Luckily for the many millions that have been affected, five other large networks, such as FOX News and ABC, withdrew from the press pool together, in solidarity with CNN, hoping to pressure the White House to reinstate the previous status quo. The diversity of networks that withdrew signifies the importance of the ban, as news sources, whether right- or left-leaning, understand the unacceptability of the ban. Furthermore, just a few days ago, a D.C. judge Tim Kelly ruled that the ban was unlawful, and the White House Access passes were given back to the networks. The issue of the more private press pool, including access to Air Force One areas and the Oval Office, remains at large. The checks and balances of America functioned as intended this week, but the very reason the cogs were forced to turn provides us with a glimpse into the Trump Administration’s attitude towards any sources of news they “dislike.”
