More than four dozen news outlets on Wednesday signed a letter supporting CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO’s legal effort to overturn their banishment from covering President Donald Trump at the White House.
The letter, filed in federal court on Wednesday, says the ban issued by Trump over the weekend violates the First Amendment and threatens to deprive all news outlets of coverage because of common pool arrangements where competing stations, networks and news publications share resources to cover news from the White House.
“Amid so many attacks from the Trump administration on journalists, this one has really struck a chord because the public can easily get its head around what has happened here,” Bruce Brown, the President of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP), said in a statement. “he president has kicked news organizations out of the White House because he does not like the news they report. That is a brazen violation of the First Amendment that the courts should quickly reverse in order to protect the public interest.”
The Desk was the first to report on the letter Tuesday evening as it was being circulated among news outlets in draft form; CNN’s Brian Stelter later confirmed the draft in his “Reliable Soruces” newsletter on Wednesday.
A number of news outlets that were considering their endorsement — including the Associated Press, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Reuters, Bloomberg News, ProPublica and the Los Angeles Times — ultimately signed the letter, which was filed as a friend-of-the-court brief.
Trump has long complained of perceived unfavorable treatment from the news media, griping about the amount of negative news coverage his personal actions and public policy initiatives receive while pointing to an apparent lack of good news about him and his administration. During his first term in office, the Trump administration revoked the press credentials of then-CNN reporter Jim Acosta, leading to an outcry among members of the White House press corps.
But his administration has not issued a blanket ban against a news organization until now. Ousting three news organizations, let alone one, is without precedent. The move has led to a strong rebuke from other members of the White House press corps, including networks like Fox News and Salem Media Group whom have generally worked to curry favor with the administration over the years. (Pete Hegseth, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, previously worked as a Fox News employee.)
This week, the New York Times and NPR said they intend to cover matters involving the White House without using photographs, audio and other media captured from events involving Trump. The announcement came after CNN was unable to contribute as the White House pool television network as scheduled on Monday.
In a statement on Wednesday, the E. W. Scripps Company said its news organizations backed the letter circulated by RCFP, noting that it asks for a restraining order that will restore access for CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO.
“We stand behind the First Amendment and the vital role a free press plays in serving the public,” Scripps said.
