The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the White House Correspondents’ Association and 49 other media organizations filed a legal brief Wednesday to end Trump’s ban on CNN, Politico and MS NOW.
The brief requested a motion for a temporary restraining order that would reinstate CNN, MS NOW and Politico’s credentials to cover the White House.
“The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting,” the brief read.
CBS, Fox News, ABC, NBC, NPR, the Associated Press, Reuters, the National Press Club, among others signed the brief in support of the banned outlets. The Dow Jones & Co., Pro Publica, Penguin Random House and the New York Times company were also among the signatories.
The brief also noted that barring these three news organizations from access to the White House because they exercised their “editorial control and judgment to cover issues in a way that the President views as negative exacts a penalty on the basis of the content of a newspaper.”
They stated that the penalties of this action are “designed to have a chilling effect, with the hope that it discourages other outlets from publishing stories that they fear might provoke similar sanctions.”
President Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House grounds Friday. The ban went into effect Saturday. The outlets requested a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration Monday.
The Trump administration defended its ban of MS NOW, CNN and Politico Tuesday, claiming in new documents that “access to the White House is a privilege — not a right.”
They claimed that President Trump’s ban was “not retaliatory because the Government would have taken the same action anyway, notwithstanding Plaintiffs’ speech criticizing the President.”
