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Edited by Mey Silvey, Amelia Cantwell, & Owen Andrews
On September 18, 2026, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social, declaring that he was “proud to announce, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW, and Politico from the White House.” This comes after more than a decade of claims by President Trump that the mainstream media is “fake” and harbors unwarranted bias against him. He claimed that the U.S. government subscribed to Politico under the Biden administration, signaling corruption to the extent that the Biden administration was “paying” for good press. While the government did, in fact, subscribe to Politico during the Biden administration, it spent the same amount providing its employees with news brief emails from Politico during the first Trump administration. This ban sets a dangerous precedent for the future and must be rejected by the system of checks and balances.
The logic that Trump is using to suggest that Politico is biased against the administration because the Biden administration was giving Politico funds is extremely flawed. Since the subscription was carried over from Trump’s first term, then the logic should be that Politico is biased toward the president that is paying them. President Trump’s move to silence media outlets, banning them from the White House, is not only an attack on the First Amendment, it also undermines the right to due process under the Fifth Amendment, which ensures that individuals receive fair legal procedures when facing government action that threatens their life, liberty, or property. In response, CNN, Politico, and MS Now have filed a joint federal lawsuit against the Trump administration. This was not the only reaction from media outlets, either. In an act of unity, Fox News, ABC News, and CBS News issued a statement on September 21, announcing they had pulled their presidential TV pool coverage, leaving President Trump without direct and instantaneous access to the American public. Still, President Trump has remained firm in his support of the ban, framing this decision as “an assault on the FAKE NEWS,” that seeks to strengthen the system of free press instead.
If President Trump took this action to silence “biased” media, then it backfired on him: his actions are cutting off his own voice to the American people. On September 21, the absence of the press pool cameras and microphones left the coverage, or lack thereof, of a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new helipad at the White House minimal. The event lasted for roughly 9 minutes, and Trump's remarks went largely unheard. The White House official video footage is without audible sound, showing just how critical the press pool, which the administration is working to silence, is to the president's access to the American people. The press pool has been following the president, documenting his every move, since 1896. The press pool has been housed in the White House since the same time and has had easy access to the President. This move eliminates the American people's access to the highest office in American governance. Revoking credentials of media outlets pushes them out of the White House and cuts off the citizens' firsthand account of presidential actions. Without any substantial intervention by courts, this move by the president calls into question how strong this system of accountability truly is.
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution establishes the right to uncensored media, which means the government cannot hinder journalists' ability to disclose government actions. The measures taken by President Trump unconstitutionally attempt to silence news organizations that the government has political disagreements with. If presidents have the ability to restrict access to media outlets that portray them in a negative light without cause, then this becomes the very tyranny that American founding documents warned against. Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter to Edward Carrington stating, “...were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” His words show the importance of an independent media in holding those in power accountable to their actions. A government that attempts to punish news organizations for unfavorable coverage threatens the public’s ability to remain informed and scrutinize its leaders. Due process and the protection of fundamental rights were also built upon this idea of government for the people, by the people, that the founders solidified. Due process is the constitutional principle that the government must follow fair legal procedures and respect individuals’ rights before depriving them of life, liberty, or property. The Fifth Amendment requires due process, which the administration has not provided. The only justification it has given for the ban is that these outlets are biased and do not report the truth, but it has failed to substantiate these claims. The lawsuit filed by the news organizations should not just stop at the federal district court but should make its way to the Supreme Court. The district court ruled on Thursday, September 24, that it was likely unconstitutional but only instituted a temporary block on the ban. The highest court in the nation should rule on the case, and it should reject this infringement on the media's access to the government. If the court does as it should, then this will strengthen the right to a free press nationally. The court should rule that a president or any government official should not have the authority to ban the media from covering them without due process. If this is allowed to continue, the precedent that this action sets allows future presidents to reprimand news organizations that are critical of their administration without any procedural due process.
Critics are comparing the ban, along with the launch of Trump TV, to having some semblance of North Korean media, where only news outlets that are going to publish media that is supportive of the regime are allowed. Donald Trump announced and released Trump TV on September 21 as well. This is a White House-controlled, 24/7 news stream featuring speeches from people within the administration and described as a place where “top moments” will be featured and great achievements of the administration celebrated. This further suggests that Donald Trump is trying to consolidate the news the American people consume into something that isn't critical of his administration. By creating a media outlet that is regulated by the white house, this refutes the First Amendment and its principles. This completely rejects the idea of the freedom of the press and the absence of government regulation in national news.
The media should not be controlled by the president; it should remain unbiased and free from government retribution. Giving presidents the ability to choose which news outlets are worthy to cover them based on how they depict the government's actions is dangerous. If the courts allow the President to control mainstream media without guardrails, news reporting could quickly become a system where journalists are granted access to the President only if they intend to portray the administration's actions in a way that benefits its ultimate agenda. Allowing this action to remain unchecked at the federal level gives the executive the ability to control how connected they are with the office of the president, setting up barriers to transparency and access to information in a democratic society.