Reporters from CNN and MS NOW have been denied access to the White House after Donald Trump announced a ban on both organisations, accusing them of publishing “FAKE NEWS”.
CNN senior White House reporter Betsy Klein reported on air that she had been barred, while MS NOW correspondent Akayla Gardner said her entry badge was disabled and confiscated on Saturday morning.
Gardner said she passed through two gates before reaching the point where her badge had to be scanned. An officer then told her it was no longer active and asked her to hand it over, adding that the decision “was above him”.
An MS NOW producer was allowed into the White House, Gardner said, but a photographer’s badge had also been disabled. Politico journalists are not usually present at the White House on Saturdays.
Trump accuses networks of ‘fake news’
Trump announced on Friday that he was “banning” CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, saying the decision followed their “constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!”.
Asked about the move during an event in the Oval Office, the president said: “Because they’re fake news.” He added: “You get so tired of reading and seeing fake news.”
Trump said CNN was “just fake” and criticised its ratings, before making a similar accusation against MS NOW. He also said stories published by Politico were fake and that other organisations could be added to the ban.
“Our country has to have honest news,” he said.
CNN said it stood behind its reporters and would continue its work. “We will not be deflected from our duty to hold the government and other public bodies to account,” the network said in a statement shown on air before Klein reported on her exclusion.
The action forms part of a wider effort by Trump and his administration during his second term to punish media organisations through legal and regulatory measures, while he has also criticised individual reporters in person and on social media.
Last year, Associated Press reporters were barred from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other events after the news organisation did not follow Trump’s lead in changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico. The AP said it would refer to the name change when appropriate.
