On Sept. 18, President Donald Trump announced he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, effective immediately. He cited what he called ‘constant fake news reporting’ as his reason.
By the following day, reporters from all three outlets confirmed they were denied access to White House grounds.
On Sept. 24, courts ordered the White House to restore access to these outlets and reporters by 12:30 p.m., and the outlets were allowed a bit after noon.
“I think it might, in some ways, damage the image of the United States,” Dr. Daniela Dimitrova, a professor at the Greenlee School of Journalism, said. “One of the characteristics of functioning liberal democracies is to have a free press and journalists who practice without intimidation.”
There has been speculation about whether these media outlets will receive more or less attention, or whether the public will change where it gets information.
“People have pretty strong views on what they think about the media, and I don’t think this is going to change it very much,” Dr. David Peterson, Lucken professor in political science, said. “People who agree with President Trump about these media organizations are going to hold those opinions.”
Additionally, some believe it will not change where media is consumed, but will still draw attention in a nonpurposeful way.
“I think a lot of people are going to now look at those reporters or those outlets who they attempted to kick off the White House grounds,” Isaiah Alexander, a senior studying agricultural studies, said.
Other outlets, especially smaller ones, may start to be more cautious in reporting so they don’t lose the status symbol of White House reporting.
“That may lead them to be a little more careful in how they report so that they don’t get added to this list of being kicked out,” Peterson said.
Democracy is a core principle of the U.S., and its media is a reflection of that principle.
“I think by looking at how media covers something, you can infer, make some conclusions about the type of government and political system that they have over there,” Dimitrova said.
While there is focus on the negatives in this conflict, some look to the bright side of coming together.
“All the other media groups that were not removed from White House grounds were supporting the groups, even including the conservative ones, were kind of standing up for their co-patriots across the aisle,” Alexander said.
The media is often seen as an educational tool, a way to be the middleman between the administration and the public.
“I think, unfortunately, media as a whole has been almost tainted by both capital and also political kind of grievances in terms of not actually trying to get to the root of what truth is,” Cole Lindaman, a master’s student in urban and regional planning, said.