Last Friday, Trump tried to institute a media ban against CNN, MSNOW, and Politico, refusing them entry to the White House.
Now, CNN has been blocked from Air Force One.
This is one of the greatest threats we have seen to the First Amendment rights by this administration.
Though the Trump administration and the Justice Department claim this decision was made after threats to national security, Trump’s initial Truth Social posts cited different reasons: “It’s sick. I mean, there’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stuff. Now, if they want to write them, that’s fine. But I don’t have to let them into my, into the people’s house,” Trump said at an event in the Oval Office last week.
Now that doesn’t sound like a national security defense argument.
Trump didn’t point to national security reasoning until the ban went to a hearing.
He switched tactics in a Truth Social post, saying, “The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish. It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America. It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!”
The Trump administration cited multiple alleged articles that were assaults on security due to their alleged misinformation. Some of the articles cited included topics like the status of munitions supplies for the Iran war, an FBI leak investigation involving a journalist, sanctions on Russia, and an article about the bad “vibes” at the Republican midterm convention.
Most of the articles cited by the Trump administration were written by journalists who did
not hold card passes to the White House. And yet, 78 journalists lost their White House press passes.
No one can deny the fact that CNN, MSNOW, and Politico are left-leaning publications. Though I have my own journalistic qualms with any publications that try to take a political slant, that shouldn’t stop them from being able to produce content. It is their First Amendment right.
And this was agreed upon in a court of law when, on Thursday, a judge temporarily overturned Trump’s ban due to lack of due process. These media companies were never proved to be a national security risk. Their press passes were taken away only with a letter from the
administration stating that they failed to maintain “standards of professionalism and decorum.”
Journalists are the watchdogs of America. They regulate our government to ensure our civil liberties and freedoms are protected. If there was a time in America when we needed someone like them to look out for the citizens, it would be now.
In times like this, the last thing we want is a weaker press. We need as many journalists watching out for our best interests as possible. America is a free country, and although you don’t have to agree with the reporting tactics of these formerly banned organizations, you can understand what sort of implications these bans have on the future. The precedent of keeping our liberties in tow is most pressing.
Acknowledgement: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual author, not necessarily Our National Conversation as a whole.