UNITED STATES. The day after Donald Trump’s announcement, media were prevented from accessing the White House

On Friday, Donald Trump announced a ban on access to the White House for certain media. On Saturday, journalists from the television channels CNN and MSNOW (formerly MSNBC) reported that they had been prevented from accessing the residence of the American president. “I tried to scan my badge, which is required to enter the White House grounds, and it didn’t work, a red light started flashing,” said Akayla Gardner, White House correspondent for MSNOW. “This is the first time, to our knowledge, that we have been refused access to the White House,” she added.

CNN journalists were also “denied access to the White House grounds,” a spokesperson for the channel told AFP. “The American Constitution guarantees us the right to practice our profession without hindrance or interference from the government, and this ban constitutes an illegal attack on this fundamental right,” he denounced.

Asked by AFP, the White House simply referred to the announcement made by Donald Trump on Friday.

Towards legal recourse

Spectacularly intensifying his offensive against the media, the American president announced on Friday that he was blocking access to three media outlets, CNN, MSNOW and Politico, “with immediate effect”, a decision widely condemned as an attack on press freedom. The Republican had accused the three media outlets in question on his Truth Social network of having “permanent coverage of FALSE NEWS” and threatened to ban access to “other media propagating false information.”

During his first term and since his return to power in early 2025, the 80-year-old Republican has repeatedly attacked journalists or media outlets whose coverage displeases him, whether in court, on Truth Social or verbally during sometimes very violent exchanges with journalists, particularly women. He also removed the Associated Press news agency, a pillar of American journalism, from the Oval Office after the latter refused to adopt the name “Gulf of America” for the Gulf of Mexico. The decision to ban access to the White House for these three media outlets should be challenged in court.