A rare show of solidarity unfolded across US television networks after President Donald Trump barred three prominent news outlets from the White House, prompting broadcasters to suspend their shared coverage operation.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico responded by taking the administration to court after Mr Trump ordered the ban on Friday.
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In an unusual collective action, the country’s five leading broadcasters announced that they would pause “pool” coverage of the White House. Under the arrangement, one network records and distributes footage on behalf of the wider television industry.
CNN had been scheduled to operate the White House television pool that day.
The decision left viewers without television coverage of Mr Trump’s visit to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he was expected to hold meetings with several foreign leaders.
US President Donald Trump has filed a number of lawsuits against news organisations
The lawsuit brought by CNN and MS NOW calls for the ban to be overturned immediately, arguing that it violates the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects freedom of speech.
“This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles,” the organisations said in court documents.
Mr Trump showed no sign of retreating, describing the media as a “cancer” and portraying it as a danger to national security.
“The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.
“It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America.”
Vice President JD Vance, who worked as a CNN commentator before entering politics, accused the organisations of spreading “left-wing propaganda”.
“They can still report. They still have the access to free speech. They’re just not going to get an office in the White House anymore,” he told reporters.
Press passes confiscated
Mr Trump’s abrupt announcement on Friday caught the media off guard and reportedly surprised some officials within his own administration.
By Saturday, journalists working for CNN, MS NOW and Politico had been refused entry to the White House grounds, while their press passes were confiscated.
Journalists work on a street corner near the White House in Washington, DC
The three outlets said the administration had withdrawn their journalists’ credentials “without notice or process” because officials objected to their reporting.
“Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference,” they said in a joint statement.
Mr Trump has not explained precisely what led to the ban. Asked about it by an AFP reporter in the Oval Office on Friday, he said it followed “really just cumulative stories over the last two years.”
“They want to try and diminish the Republicans and a Republican administration,” Trump added.
He also warned that other news organisations could be targeted, though he did not identify them.
CNN reported that Natalie Harp, a close aide to Mr Trump, had shown him clips of recent media coverage, including a graphic broadcast by Politico, before the ban was announced.
Mr Trump has a long record of attacking outlets that publish critical coverage of his campaigns and administrations, frequently describing the press as the “enemy of the people.”
