Following President Trump’s decision to ban three major news outlets from the White House, the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) applauds the networks taking collective action to hold the administration accountable and calls for continued solidarity across the media industry.
On Saturday, September 19, CNN, MS NOW, and Politico were denied access to the White House grounds after President Trump announced that he was barring the outlets because of objections to their reporting. Today, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, CNN, and Fox News suspended television pool coverage of the president after the White House prevented CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties.
President Trump’s restrictions fall disproportionately on women, who comprise a substantial majority of the White House press corps and are leading coverage of the administration. MS NOW’s Akayla Gardner, Politico’s Cheyenne Haslett, and CNN’s Betsy Klein all were assigned to lead coverage for their outlets on Saturday and were denied access. Berating women journalists — often through gendered, personal attacks — is a tactic to silence those asking difficult questions and, ultimately, undermine press freedom.
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We are gratified to see the White House pool networks join forces to defend freedom of the press. The IWMF stands with ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, CNN, and Fox News; the White House press corps; and the journalists affected by the ban. We urge the White House to restore the excluded journalists’ credentials and uphold its responsibility to protect a free press.
