Miami, September 18, 2026—President Donald Trump’s order to ban news outlets CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House news coverage violates First Amendment rights and is an alarming escalation of how far this administration will go to control the narrative and silence critical, fact-based, news coverage, said the Committee to Protect Journalists on Friday.
“The government should not be in the business of censorship but rather devoted to protecting the constitutional right to a free press for all Americans,” said CPJ Américas Regional Director José Zamora. “President Trump’s arbitrary banning of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House news coverage illustrates that he is neither interested in a free press nor protecting constitutional rights. His administration’s weaponization of government agencies and access to target critical coverage must end, and journalists must be allowed to do their jobs free from retaliation.”
In a Friday Truth Social post, President Trump attacked news coverage of his administration as “fiction and lies,” but he did not specify what coverage he was referring to before announcing the ban, multiple outlets reported.
Immediately after the post, sources told CPJ that there were no signs that White House officials had followed through with the president’s directive.
In a statement posted on X, CNN analyst Brian Stelter posted that a spokesperson for the outlet said they “stand fully behind our White House team and their fair and accurate reporting.” The outlet added, “We have a right under the U.S. Constitution to do that reporting without hindrance or interference from the government. Should the ban which President Trump threatened go ahead, it would be an illegal assault on that fundamental and constitutionally-protected right.”
Last year, President Trump barred The Associated Press and excluded The Wall Street Journal from traveling in the press pool after the outlets refused to change references to the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. CPJ joined an amicus brief filed by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) outlining how the Trump administration’s decision violates the First Amendment.
Since taking office for a second time last year, the Trump administration has weaponized agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission and the authority and influence of federal law enforcement to threaten media outlets and target individual journalists with subpoenas over unfavorable news coverage. Such weaponization has included visa rules that unreasonably limit the abilities of foreign journalists and make their reporting from the U.S. dependent on repeated government approval.
CPJ’s email to White House communications director Steven Cheung did not receive an immediate reply.