![\"Trump](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/trump-USXBREHMNZCD3JTEHPMF64RRNQ.jpg\")
<\/p>\nReporters from three news organisations \u2014 CNN, MS NOW and Politico \u2014 have been denied access to the White House, a day after Donald Trump said he was barring them because of reporting he found to be \u201cfake news.\u201d<\/p>\n
The actions were a clear escalation of Trump\u2019s long-running efforts \u2014 in the courts and through administrative action \u2014 to restrict news coverage by journalists he finds objectionable, and the latest test of First Amendment protections in the United States. <\/p>\n
Trump had said he would ban all three outlets because of coverage he disliked.<\/p>\n
White House reporters from the two cable networks \u2014 Betsy Klein of CNN and Akayla Gardner of MS NOW \u2014 both went live to report they\u2019d been turned away when arriving for their jobs at the White House. Soon after, Politico said its White House reporter Cheyenne Haslett was also denied entry and had her badge confiscated.<\/p>\n
Politico Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Greenberger said in a statement to the Politico newsroom: \u201cWe stand by her and all reporters here covering the White House. \u2026 We will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Trump spoke in the Oval Office of the White House, September 18,2026. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
CNN and MS NOW issued similar statements. \u201cWe will not be deflected from our duty to hold the government and other public bodies to account,\u201d CNN said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe White House belongs to the American people and the decisions made inside are funded by our tax dollars,\u201d MS NOW said in its statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cMS NOW intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy.\u201d’<\/p>\n
In his second term, Trump and his administration have upped the ante and punished certain media outlets, both in the courtroom and through regulatory action. <\/p>\n
Trump has also lashed out at individual reporters in person or over social media, sometimes in strikingly personal terms \u2014 insulting them in briefings, or in his recent speech at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.<\/p>\n
The US President hit back after being asked whether nuclear weapons were off the table in the conflict with Iran. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
CNN and MS NOW correspondents are turned away<\/p>\n
Network correspondents are usually present on the weekends when the president is in Washington or at nearby Camp David. <\/p>\n
Trump is at the presidential retreat in Maryland this weekend.<\/p>\n
MS NOW’s Gardner reported that she had walked through two gates successfully, but once she got to where her badge needed to be scanned, an officer told her it was disabled and asked her to hand it over. <\/p>\n
He said the decision \u201cwas above him,” she reported. An MS NOW producer was able to get in, but a photographer’s badge was also disabled, Gardner said.<\/p>\n
Klein, senior White House reporter at CNN, also said her badge had been deactivated. <\/p>\n
It was confiscated, and she was handed back the clear plastic case. She said she was referred to the White House press office for further information.<\/p>\n
Amy Kristin Sanders, a professor at Penn State University and an expert in media law, said it has “become pretty clear that this administration is not interested in playing by traditional First Amendment rules and norms.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second Trump administration\u2019s efforts to crack down on press freedom and delegitimise independent journalism far exceed those of any other modern American president,” Sanders said. <\/p>\n
“It is not an exaggeration to say his hostile actions toward news organisations and individual reporters have a chilling effect on freedom of expression around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
CNN media analyst Brian Stelter called the move \u201ca direct threat to press freedom in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so much bigger than CNN,\u201d Stelter said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a free speech test in America.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump calls these and other outlets \u2018fake news\u2019<\/p>\n
The president wrote on his site Friday that effective immediately, \u201cI am banning\u201d CNN, MS NOW and Politico \u201cfrom the White House as a result of their constant \u2018reporting\u2019 FAKE NEWS!\u201d <\/p>\n
Minutes later, speaking at an event in the Oval Office, Trump was asked to explain his statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause they\u2019re fake news,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou get so tired of reading and seeing fake news. When you look at CNN, it\u2019s just fake. That\u2019s why their ratings are no good. When you look at MS NOW \u2026 , it\u2019s fake news.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when you look at Politico … the stories they wrote are fake. So there\u2019s a lot of news and there may be others to join them, and maybe they can get better,\u201d he said. \u201cBut our country has to have honest news.\u201d<\/p>\n
The move follows the president\u2019s decision last year to bar Associated Press reporters from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other events in retaliation for the news outlet\u2019s decision not to follow his lead in changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico, which lies partially in Mexican and other waters. <\/p>\n
The AP said that it would note when appropriate that Trump had ordered it renamed the \u201cGulf of America.\u201d<\/p>\n
The AP filed suit and the case is ongoing. <\/p>\n
Since returning to office, Trump has pursued other legal action against a variety of different outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the BBC. <\/p>\n
His administration is also involved in a long-simmering confrontation involving ABC over renewal of its broadcast licenses.<\/p>\n
The AP said Saturday it supported the news organisations banned this week. In a statement, it said: \u201cNo news organisation \u2014 or person \u2014 should be retaliated against by the government over the words they use.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reporters from three news organisations \u2014 CNN, MS NOW and Politico \u2014 have been denied access to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[65,42,43,64,40,38,41,39,66],"class_list":["post-605732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-north-america","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-us-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}