A group of private citizens has sued the administration of United States President Donald Trump over its restrictions on news outlets covering the White House. The lawsuit is the first lodged not by the news outlets being banned, but by those who consume the news and rely on it for their work. The plaintiffs include a human rights advocate, a media watchdog, a university history professor, a high school teacher, a legal journalist and a student journalist.
Each argues they need unbiased, diverse media reporting from the White House to do their work. Last month, he banned journalists from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from attending news conferences at the White House. A federal judge later ruled the order was unconstitutional, a violation of the First Amendment, which protects freedom of the press, and ordered access be restored.
However, the Trump administration continues to fight the ruling. Last week, Trump dismissed reporting that he planned to evict journalists from the White House press briefing room and restore a swimming pool that was housed there starting in 1933. But he said he is still considering moving the press out of the briefing room.
Kenneth Roth, a senior fellow at Yale University and former executive director of Human Rights Watch, said the restrictions on press access were familiar postmarks in countries whose leaders have become authoritarian.
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