White House Escalates Attack on Press Freedom by Excluding CNN from Air Force One Trip
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In a blatant act of media suppression, the Trump administration has barred CNN from joining the Air Force One press pool, intensifying its ongoing assault on the free press and democratic norms.
The White House announced on Friday that CNN would not be on the media list for President Donald Trump's Air Force One flight to Tennessee on Saturday, effectively silencing the network's planned coverage of the trip. This exclusion is the latest in a disturbing pattern of the Trump administration targeting critical media, despite a recent legal ruling that found such bans likely unconstitutional. The White House, however, continues to flout the rule of law by denying access to select reporters.
Last week, President Trump escalated his war on the press by barring CNN, Politico, and MS NOW journalists from the White House, baselessly accusing them of publishing 'false information.' These outlets have been forced to pursue legal action to defend their fundamental free-speech and press-freedom rights, which are under direct threat. In a rare show of solidarity, four major networks – ABC, CBS, Fox News, and NBC – temporarily suspended their White House coverage to protest this authoritarian overreach.
In a further attempt to control the narrative, the administration has launched its own propaganda outlet, Trump TV, ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Even after a federal judge ordered the White House to allow the banned outlets back in, the administration continued its vindictive exclusion of some CNN and MS NOW reporters from covering a state dinner for Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
'FAKE NEWS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED IN THE WHITE HOUSE,' President Trump ranted online Saturday, using the term as a cudgel against any critical reporting.
'Contrary to what the Fake News wants you to believe, they don't just get to have free rein into every part of the White House, every event and every press call,' a White House communications account posted on X, further justifying the administration's dangerous attack on press freedom.