The media strikes back with lawsuit threat after Trump blocks unflattering orgs from White House

Christy Strawser (0:00)

This is On Deadline, where the biggest stories, the smartest journalists, and the conversations that matter come together from Audacy news stations across the country. When news breaks, the story doesn't stop there. I'm Christy Strawser. Let's get started. Let's talk catastrophes, from blows to the American system of a free press, to what it would take to weather a 200-year storm, and whether it's possible to weather an AI takeover.

Let's start with WCCO in Minneapolis.

SPEAKER_2 (0:31)

CNN was scheduled to be the television pool for all the networks. Now it's on the sidelines. Credentials cut off along with Politico and MS Now, and maybe others, says President Trump, unless their coverage conforms. Warning of a chilling effect, Professor Mary Ann Franks at George Washington University School of Law.

Mary Ann Franks (0:47)

If you want this kind of access, if you want to remain here in this press pool, then you have to do what I say and you have to report the way that I want you to report it.

SPEAKER_2 (0:57)

Republican Leader Steve Scalise telling ABC, we've never had a president more open to the press. Wayne Cabot, ABC News.

Wayne Cabot (1:04)

Those three organizations now suing, saying in a statement left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public's right to independent journalism free from government interference. The freedom to report on people in power, regardless of whether the stories are positive or negative, is protected by the Constitution. The White House Correspondence Association says the ban is a violation of the First Amendment, saying the American people through a free and independent press must be able to scrutinize those elected to power, regardless of whether government officials view it favorably.

Christy Strawser (1:41)

Here's more from KCBS in the Bay Area.

SPEAKER_5 (1:45)

Reporters from three major news organizations, CNN, MSNOW, and Politico, have been stripped of their White House press badges today. This comes only a day after President Trump said he was barring them because of reporting he found to be, quote, fake news.

For a look at the legality of all this, we turn to the KCBS Ring Central News Line and talk with Karen North, USC professor of communication at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Thanks for joining us.

Karen North (2:15)

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_5 (2:16)

So this has happened before, Karen, with the White House block in the Associated Press from the Oval Office, the White House East Room and one of the press pools. So can this be considered legal since it's a precedent?

Karen North (2:31)

Well, so I'm not a lawyer, but I have to say there's a long and sort of adversarial relationship between presidents and the press going all the way back to George Washington, and a variety of actions from some of our favorite presidents over time, including Lincoln and people like that who took action against the press. But yes, like the way that things play out today is that a president will take action, and then the news organizations will sue for their rights to cover the White House.

SPEAKER_5 (3:04)

So not everyone gets in. So explain that.

Karen North (3:08)

Yeah, it's super complicated, and I don't know all the, nobody knows all the details. One of those behind, behind the magic curtain kind of thing. But so the White House Correspondence Association controls basically credentialing news organizations. So if you're a news organization, you apply and say, we think that we are a legitimate news organization with a perspective, and we want to be in there to meet directly with the president. And then they get the organizations that get credentialed, and they send their reporters.

And then the White House rotates, or the White House Press Correspondence Organization, the Association rotates who gets seats each time, because there are many more people than there are seats. But the White House Press Secretary controls who gets to ask questions.

SPEAKER_5 (3:53)

Oh, okay. So I remember, was it Jim Acosta when they kicked him out?

And then they had to go to court. And I think the president is banking on the fact that things have to go through a process to get them reinstated, right? It's a campaign of intimidation, sort of.

Karen North (4:11)

Well, so that's what I keep saying. Funny you use the same word. I'm like, the White House, so if you go back to like FDR, it's so interesting, you have like years and years, you know, a couple hundred years of adversarial relationships. And then FDR decided to sidestep it and say like, I'm just going to have fireside chats on the radio and TV and like share my view. And I'll go straight to the hearts of the people. And if you think about it, Donald Trump tried something like that when he decided to just go on Twitter.