WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Friday he was banning news outlets CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, accusing them without specifics of reporting ‘fiction and lies’.
Trump added ‘other Fake News Media Outlets to follow’, but did not say which.
‘I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW and Politico from the White House as a result of their constant reporting FAKE NEWS!’ Trump said on his Truth Social network.
He did not say what had prompted the bar, but added that ‘media outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, orthe United States of America It is extremely rare for US residents to bar news outlets from the White House altogether, although Trump banned a CNNreporter in his first term and Richard Nixon put restrictions on the Washington Post for its reporting on the Watergate scandal.
But Trump’s second administration has put stricter controls on reporters, including taking control of which journalists can cover events as part of the ‘pool’ admitted to tight spaces such as the Oval Office and Air Force One.
Last year Trumpbarred TheAssociated Press from some events because of the news agency’s decision to continue referring to the ‘Gulf of Mexico’, and not the ‘Gulf of America’ as decreed by Trump.-AFP