Trump Expands Press Freedom By Removing Press
President Donald Trump expanded freedom of the press Monday by barring CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, protecting their reporters from the corrosive influence of access, questions and firsthand observation. The outlets lost their credentials after publishing coverage the president disliked, a routine national security precaution against journalism occurring within earshot of the government. Constitutional experts noted that the First Amendment guarantees news organizations the right to praise the president from any public sidewalk where they cannot see, hear or inconvenience him.
Trump designated the outlets “fake news” and therefore ineligible for the press freedoms reserved for organizations that agree with him. “The First Amendment is very clear, probably clearer to me than anybody, and it says the press is free to report all the tremendous things I do,” Trump said. “If they want to report something negative, they remain totally free to do that without credentials, cameras, sources, readers or access to the United States government.” The statement established a modern constitutional standard under which criticism becomes espionage whenever it causes the commander in chief to experience an unflattering emotion.
ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News responded by suspending pooled television coverage of presidential events, temporarily depriving Americans of their longstanding civic right to watch Trump explain that television networks do not show him often enough. White House officials said the restrictions could not qualify as censorship because the administration had not prevented the outlets from publishing; it had merely removed their access, confiscated their credentials and imposed government penalties based on their reporting. Officials described those measures as the familiar operating procedures of any exceptionally transparent administration.
The excluded organizations are seeking judicial relief, forcing federal judges to consider whether the Constitution applies inside a building occupied by the president. Administration lawyers are expected to argue that freedom of the press remains fully intact because reporters may still cover Trump using official statements, approved footage and whatever praise he posts online. By removing journalists from the White House, the president has conclusively made the White House more accessible to journalism.
* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.