It’s one of the biggest stories in the country. It speaks to crucial issues of press freedom and democracy.
There’s no one to root for in it. But there is something We the People can do about it.
Trump announced that he’s banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, his latest attack on news agencies he doesn’t like. Having lied so much and called accurate reporting “fake news,” he’s in no position to grandstand.
Meanwhile, news giants lie, too. CNN is a prime example of one presenting itself as mainstream — wanting to appeal across the political spectrum — but regularly pushing lies that fuel left-wing hate campaigns. Click the magnifying glass icon at the top of this screen and search “CNN” for dozens of examples. Just this morning I called out CNN for cherry-picking data. MS NOW, formerly MSNBC, is an avowed left-wing outlet that does the same.
So understanding this story requires rejecting binary thinking. As the brilliant business leader Leslie Zane explained in Episode 69: Connectomes, our subconscious minds naturally veer toward simpler “good vs. evil” scenarios. That’s what makes the media’s false victim narratives take hold so deeply. In this situation, no one’s a victim.
I focus primarily on correcting the mainstream media, so I don’t spend much time analyzing Politico. But I can tell you that in his announcement, Trump falsely claimed Biden’s government funneled millions to the company to prop it up. In reality, federal agencies pay for news subscriptions, as they did under his leadership as well.
Having journalists cover the government is a bulwark of our freedom. And courts have ruled that the White House can’t remove access based on content. So this decision could easily be overturned by a judge at any minute.
While news stories have pointed this out, I’ve raised a question. If fellow journalists recognized that a colleague has become a lying propagandist, and a president removed that person’s access, would journalists rally around that person? I asked this in a reply to an AP reporter on X. So far, of course, the response has been crickets.
In fact, several years ago CNN considered whether Fox should lose its membership in the White House Press Pool, and be “afforded the privileges that come with news gathering.” A listener sent me this:
Americans should not have to choose between a lying president and a lying media. The solution is to use our freedom. Elect leaders who understand and respect the role of a free press, and stop paying news sites that fail to do their jobs.
On another note, with the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur beginning this evening, my latest column for the Times of Israel has just gone up. To all good people who celebrate, wishing you a meaningful holiday/fast.