(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) The White House stated through the presidential schedule on Friday (September 25) evening that CNN will be excluded from the press corps accompanying Air Force One during President Trump’s Saturday trip.
This is the latest restrictive measure taken by the current US government on the media in an ongoing dispute involving the First Amendment of the Constitution.
According to the itinerary released by the White House, the president will travel to Knoxville, Tennessee, and CNN will be replaced by the conservative media "Real America's Voice". Trump is scheduled to attend a college football game between the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas at noon on Saturday.
Before this news broke, CNN and reporters from MS NOW and Politico, which had also encountered bans, were returning to the White House office area carrying cameras.
Last week, Trump banned the three media outlets from the White House campus, citing false or negative reporting.
Subsequently, several other television media in the White House press joint interview team said they would suspend their participation in reporting, including ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News (Fox News), which was once close to Trump.
The three banned outlets sued Trump and other members of his administration, saying the ban violated the First Amendment's protections of free speech and press, as well as their due process rights. A coalition of press freedom groups and dozens of news organizations have since filed legal submissions supporting the lawsuit.
U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly temporarily overturned Trump's ban in a ruling early Thursday morning, preliminary finding that the ban was suspected of being unconstitutional, and ordered that access be restored immediately. The permissions of the three media outlets were restored on Thursday.
But his ruling focused on the "hard pass" to enter the White House campus and did not directly address the responsibilities of the joint interview team. The interim order also said nothing about Air Force One.
Regular reporting resumed on Friday, with CNN covering Trump and Xi Jinping's visit to the U.S. National Archives as part of a joint interview team.
While the interim ruling has restored access to the journalists, the court has yet to rule on the dispute at the heart of the ban, which is based on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that protects free speech and freedom of the press.
These media outlets must apply to the judge before September 28 to maintain their access while the case progresses.
Even if the outlets win a permanent injunction against the ban, Trump could still pursue the lawsuit in federal court.
As he greeted Xi Jinping in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump joked to photographers that China had the friendliest press corps — and that China imposes heavy censorship on its media.
According to statistics from Reporters Without Borders, China imprisons at least 111 journalists and media workers, making it the "world's largest journalist prison". It ranks 178th among 180 countries and regions in press freedom rankings, only higher than North Korea and Eritrea.
Although the White House told the court on Thursday that it had restored access to CNN, MS NOW and Politico, the Washington Post reported that CNN and MS NOW subsequently said that some of their reporters were denied coverage of Xi Jinping's arrival at the White House state dinner.
David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance, which is seeking to merge with CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, attended the Trump-Xi meeting state dinner on Thursday night.
Critics have expressed concern that Paramount-owned CBS News may adjust its coverage to cater to Trump, but Ellison promised to establish editorial independence committees for CBS and CNN as part of the deal.
Trump declined to answer reporters' questions about China and Iran, his media ban and a controversial new taxpayer-funded television ad to promote his presidency as the joint press corps resumed coverage of the Trump-Xi meeting on Friday.
Theodore Boutrous Jr., a lawyer representing the media organizations, said in an interview with CNN on Friday that the plaintiffs believe that the court ruling also covers the issue of access to the joint interview team.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press for more details on the decision.
A person familiar with the White House joint tour said that for now, everything is operating normally. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the fluid situation.
The joint interview team consists of five major U.S. broadcasters, taking turns filming and sharing video.
The seats originally reserved for CNN on this Air One trip have long been members of the White House Joint Interview Team, and the "Real Voice of America" is not a member of the team.
For a long time, Trump has frequently portrayed news organizations as political opponents, while also relying on the media to shape his public image and advance his agenda.
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has launched an unprecedented attack on the media: physically attacking reporters, denying interviews to some, suing news organizations and calling on the Federal Communications Commission to revoke the licenses of some broadcast stations.
Early last year, the Trump administration expelled AP journalists from White House events for failing to comply with his executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of the United States." The case is currently on appeal after a federal district court judge ruled in favor of the AP.
The White House Joint Reporting Corps was established decades ago by the White House Correspondents' Association to ensure that there is always a rotating group of reporters traveling with the president. The corps provides live reporting and images to the broader press community and is designed to hold the nation's top executive accountable on behalf of the American public.
Jacqui Heinrich, current president of the White House Correspondents' Association and Fox News host, interviewed her guest, CBS reporter Weijia Jiang (transliteration) on the "Fox News Sunday" program. Jiang Weijia is the former chairman of the White House Correspondents' Association. She said the United States cannot have national television. This, she said, is what makes America what it is. That’s why America needs independent reporting. The reason why this interview group mechanism has existed for so long and is so effective is that there must be independent actors to act as observers.
In addition to the television interview team, White House reporters also have written, radio and photographic interview teams. This system exists in part because the venues where the president travels and delivers speeches often cannot accommodate the larger group of reporters.
Trump's White House also produces its own content, including live broadcasts of events. Jiang Weijia said that if the government only shows you what it wants you to see, then you have to ask: What did we miss? And that's what joint interview groups, that's what these media can bring.
