Topic of the Week: Trump Bans CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House

Last week, President Trump announced he was banning three media outlets — CNN, MS NOW and Politico — from the White House for reporting what he called “LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States.” Our analysts rated media coverage about the ban in our Topic of the Week.

The most fact-based and unbiased reporting from our content set came from two of the media outlets included in the ban: CNN and Politico. The article from Politico gives the basic facts about the ban and then asks, why now? The article reports that Trump senior staff members were surprised by Trump’s announcement, but they are taking it seriously, with possibly more media outlets to be added to the ban, according to Trump. “Perhaps the incident will be filed away as one of Trump’s seemingly spontaneous eruptions that staff struggle to explain, from his fascination with genetics to his hatred for windmills,” Politico writes. While analysts found the reporting to be neutral overall, that particular sentence led analysts to give the article a slight bias rating to the left, although it still falls into the category of “middle.” It was categorized as a “mix of fact reporting and analysis.”

An article on the CNN website is written as an explainer for the readers: “What is the White House press pool, and why is it now under threat?” It gives the history of the press pool — who is in it, what it does and who pays for it. It also discusses how the pool might operate now that three media outlets have been banned, including the CNN TV crew, which was scheduled to be the television pool on Monday, Sept. 21, and when Trump traveled to New York City to appear at the United Nations General Assembly. Analysts rated the article as a “mix of fact reporting and analysis” with a “middle” bias.

Both videos in this week’s sample were rated as “opinion” with a “strong left” bias. The first is from the third media outlet affected by the ban: MS NOW. In a clip from the show “Deadline: White House,” host Nicolle Wallace speaks with attorney James Sample and Michael Feinberg, a fellow at Lawfare, about whether the ban is legal and if it erodes government norms. Sample says the ban is unconstitutional: “When the government chooses to open the door to media, the government doesn’t then get to choose which media gets to serve the people … (Trump)’s not interested in complying with the law, he’s interested in pursuing the grievance for the sake of the grievance itself.” Feinberg says previous administrations “had principles and a basic sense of decency,” but now: “There’s a lack of understanding what the job of government is by all the people now occupying it, and it’s going to take generations to restore the trust that was once there…” Wallace says the intention of the ban “is to intimidate, is to chill, is to sand the edges off and make people afraid of doing their jobs.” Analysts noted that everyone included in this clip is critical of Trump and the GOP, and they speculate on the possible motivations for Trump’s ban.

In a clip from the CBS News show “The Takeout with Major Garrett”, the host says Trump, “frustrated by the grim political environment he and congressional Republicans face as the midterms approach” has “lashed out at reporters” with his ban. He calls the ban a “tell” and is “signaling he is weak.” Despite the ban, Garrett says, “Coverage will continue. Trump cannot escape that.” He speaks with Ouija Jen, White House correspondent, who says Trump “hurts his case” regarding the First Amendment when he says he implemented the ban because he dislikes reporting that is negative about Republicans. Analysts found that the video criticizes Trump and speculates about his motivations.

An article from The Federalist says that CNN, MS NOW and Politico “are well known for advancing hoaxes and giving unquestioning favorable coverage to Democrats, tantamount to in-kind political donations.” It gives multiple examples of reporting by all three outlets that it considers to be unfair or false, such as comparing the Trump campaign’s 2024 Madison Square Garden rally to a Nazi rally. It calls Politico “openly corrupt” for its “pro-abortion move” of publishing “a survey exclusively of people who would advance that narrative and omitted anyone who might counter it.” Meanwhile, it takes money from “abortionist Planned Parenthood,” which sponsors its newsletter. Analysts found that the article “champions the unconstitutional nature of the ban and encourages it with selective information and media criticism.” It was rated as “selective or incomplete and unfair persuasion” with a “hyper-partisan right” bias.

Finally, an article from American Thinker calls Trump’s ban “valid” and not an infringement of the First Amendment: “Since the Constitution doesn’t mention an inherent right to be in the White House to report on and comment on the news of the day, that argument is invalid.” The article includes several examples of reporting by CNN that the Trump administration has called “hoaxes” and says that while it’s important that the media have a “healthy skepticism toward the government, that’s not the same as enmity.” “… the media are using a tool of war within their own country to conduct what amounts to a coup against the presidency,” it states. “… this is a concerted effort to use propaganda to bring down the presidency.” Analysts said the article “defends the President’s decision with unsubstantiated arguments” and “characterizes news outlets as propagandists, while citing zero specific examples and why the coverage was inaccurate.” It was rated as “selective or incomplete and unfair persuasion” with a “hyper-partisan right” bias.

Want to see if you agree with our analysts? Follow along with our weekly Topic of the Week exercise by visiting our website. New Topics of the Week are posted each Monday. Read the articles and watch the videos yourself, then come back on Wednesday to compare your scores with our analysts. Learn more here.

Beth Heldebrandt is Director of Communications at Ad Fontes Media. She has more than 35 years of experience in the fields of journalism and public relations, and was an adjunct instructor of journalism for 17 years at Eastern Illinois University. Beth has a B.A. in journalism from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and an M.A. in English from Eastern Illinois University. She’s a mom and grandma, and enjoys traveling, puzzles and reading.