International Desk, Sep 21 (EFE). –
The three United States’ media outlets banned from the White House by President Donald Trump – CNN, MS NOW, and Politico – said Monday they would file a lawsuit to restore their access.
The lawsuit was to be with a federal judge in the US District Court for Washington DC and could lead to hearings and legal arguments from the administration this week, the affected media outlets reported in a joint statement.
“This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes,” the outlets said in a joint statement.
“Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting,” the statement said.
“Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference,” it added.
On Friday, Trump announced he was banning immediate access to the White House for the three media outlets, accusing them of spreading “fake news,” and threatened to extend the measure to other media organizations.
“Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States,” Trump posted on social media platform Truth Social.
The announcement marked a new escalation in the Republican leader’s offensive against the press, after at the beginning of his term he restricted the Associated Press (AP) agency’s access to some White House events for refusing to use the name “Gulf of America” to refer to the Gulf of Mexico.
Reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and the Politico are currently unable to access their workspaces within the White House. CNN and MS NOW are also banned from using their television equipment and cameras on the premises.
On Saturday, MS NOW reporter Akayla Gardner, CNN reporter Betsy Klein, and Politico reporter Cheyenne Haslett attempted to enter the White House grounds to cover news events, but were denied access and had their press credentials confiscated.
Trump has for long had a tense relationship with the press, which he accuses of lying recurrently, in addition to having publicly insulted reporters and having filed million-dollar lawsuits against media outlets, which press freedom advocacy organizations see as an attempt at censorship. EFE
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