After President Donald Trump blocked three major media outlets from the White House – and several more left in solidarity – a federal judge has temporarily blocked the ban and ordered the news outlets' access to be restored.
Last week, Trump announced that CNN, MS Now and Politico were banned from accessing the White House. At the time, the president said on social media that the ban was over as a result of their “constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” and that “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”
The three news outlets responded by filing a lawsuit against the administration. US District Judge Timothy Kelly this week has now temporarily blocked the ban and ordered the news outlets' access to be restored for 14 days while the lawsuit continues.
But on Thursday morning, reporters from CNN, MS Now and Politico said they were barred from entering the White House grounds by the Secret Service. The news outlets filed for an immediate hearing in response. Around noon on Thursday, reporters from those outlets were allowed back onto the grounds, according to the New York Times.
As a photographer and photojournalist, I’ve been watching the unfolding drama with a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. While the Trump administration argued in the court hearing that the ban was for national security, the president’s social media posts announcing the ban do not mention security, but rather what the news outlets were reporting.
While the legal fight between the administration and the news outlet is ongoing, it’s clear that a First Amendment fight is unfolding at the White House – and photographers and journalists shouldn’t be the only ones watching.
Yes, blocking access to news outlets should instill a myriad of emotions in every photojournalist. But journalism is also the lens that shows every citizen what’s unfolding in Washington. Through the lenses of photojournalists, the world can watch. Blocking multiple major news organizations over the content of that reporting is a threat to both the First Amendment and democracy.
Blocking media over unfavorable coverage risks creating a heavily biased news media, lowering accountability, and eroding trust. Freedom of the press allows Americans a varied diet of political news by following coverage from a wide variety of media sources.
All three of the banned outlets sit on the left and far left rankings for media bias charts, such as the AllSides Media Bias Chart.
The current fight in Washington is not the first time the Trump Administration has attempted to ban specific journalism outlets. The Associated Press was previously banned when it refused to update its style guide from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. A recent report suggests that refusing to give out the rights to the Butler assassination attempt photographs also fueled that ban.
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