WASHINGTON (AURN News) — The Justice Department faces a Tuesday deadline to respond in court to a lawsuit filed by CNN, MS NOW and Politico, ahead of a Wednesday afternoon hearing on the outlets’ request for an emergency order restoring their reporters’ White House access.
The White House also launched a 24/7 streaming channel called Trump TV on Monday, the same day ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC declined to replace CNN during its scheduled White House television pool rotation.
Critics have compared the channel to state-run media. Weijia Jiang, a former president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said in a Fox News interview, “America cannot have state TV.”
The outlets argue that the ban violates their First Amendment and due process rights, saying their reporters received no notice or hearing before their credentials were deactivated or confiscated.
Their lawsuit also points to earlier press-access cases, including the Associated Press dispute, in which a federal judge found that restricting access based on the AP’s editorial choices likely violated the First Amendment.
Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @ebonymcmorris & @aurnonline.
