After the White House banned a CNN reporter because they didn’t like her questions, the network responded with a statement that blasted the president and listed their reporter’s questions.
CNN’s PR Department said in a statement:
Statement regarding CNN press access at today’s White House event. We demand better. pic.twitter.com/s4lSTcHVak
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) July 25, 2018
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CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posed questions to Trump that were related to Michael Cohen and Russia. For asking these questions, Bill Shine and Sarah Huckabee Sanders banned her from the Trump event on trade with the president of the European Commission.
White House Correspondents Association President Oliver Knox condemned the treatment of Collins:
.@whca President @OKnox on the White House shutting CNN's @kaitlancollins out of today's White House Rose Garden event:
"This type of retaliation is wholly inappropriate, wrong-headed, and weak. It cannot stand." pic.twitter.com/UWl2yfpElb
— Katie Watson (@kathrynw5) July 25, 2018
The ban came on the same day that Trump ran away from reporters’ questions at the event that Collins was barred entry to. The Trump administration continues to attack the free press and suppress information from the public. Journalists do not exist to be anyone’s fan club, and punishing Collins for trying to do her job exhibits a fundamental disrespect for press freedom that has been a consistent trademark of the Trump presidency.
CNN is right. A president doesn’t get to ban reporters because he is uncomfortable or doesn’t like the questions. If a journalist is not making someone, somewhere uncomfortable, then the odds are that they aren’t doing a very good job.
If Trump can’t handle the heat, he should resign immediately.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
