President Trump announced last week that several media outlets, including CNN, Politico, and MS NOW, were barred from the White House over their consistent and persistent reporting of fake news. In solidarity with those outlets, pretty much every legacy media group said it would end pool duties and most of its other coverage of the President.
Okay.
I was going to say that I give it a month before they come crawling back to the White House, but I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts they cover — even in some way — President Trump's remarks at the United Nations General Assembly, which he gave this morning. Even if they don't, do they think Americans will forget that Trump is President, or what he looks like?
All the media has to do is not be such partisan hacks. I get it, you hate Trump. Fine. Lots of people do. But a lot of people hated Biden and didn't vote for him in 2020, yet the media had no problem carrying water for the Biden-Harris administration, up to and including protecting both of them from the consequences of the 25th Amendment until Jake Tapper could sign that sweet book advance.
It's (D)ifferent, as I always say.
The First Amendment is not absolute when it comes to the freedom of the press. Simply put, the press has a right not to be jailed for doing its job; it does not have a right to access the White House. If that were the case, every blogger, YouTuber, or American with a video camera could make a claim to the press briefing room.
Former President Obama knew this, because he attacked Fox News repeatedly during his administration, and Biden did the same to Fox and to journalists like Catherine Herridge during his term in office. So when Obama said it was "unimaginable" he'd do something like that, and the moderator just laughed; they proved exactly why Trump gave them the boot.
In about 30 minutes, I was able to put together a video of just a handful of the media lies about President Trump, as well as Obama and Biden's treatment of the press.
"It's unimaginable" pic.twitter.com/TGRPNhnp0c
— Amy Curtis (@RantyAmyCurtis) September 20, 2026
That was at my kitchen table, with the limited resources I have. Surely CNN, Politico, and MS NOW could've done the same. And surely if random people on X can fact-check and Community Note misleading posts, they can recognize and correct misleading stories on their networks, right?
They can. They choose not to. Because they want to be propagandists and stenographers for the DNC, and President Trump said "No more."
I don't remember Jake Tapper running to the defense of Fox News or Catherine Herridge. In fact, Tapper's CNN colleague Brian Stelter is in that video calling for Fox News to be ousted from the White House. Stelter and his panel said Fox News had become too "political." There were no breathless posts or op-eds about the unprecedented attack on the free press.
Gee, that's funny.
Because when President Trump nominated Pete Hegseth as Secretary of War, he was the only cabinet nominee to have 100 percent negative press coverage before his confirmation. I'm supposed to believe that wasn't political? Or what about Tapper wining and dining with Anthony Fauci while his network white-knighted for the liar who ruined so many lives with his COVID policies? That's not political?
Or how about the press giving their questions to the White House in advance so they could make handy little cards for pudding-brained Biden? Or when debate moderators stage it so the Republican always has to debate them and the Democrat?
I'm also old enough to remember when the networks refused — refused — to carry President Trump's address on Chinese election interference because they claimed, without any evidence, that he was going to lie.
To them, freedom of the press means they can do and say whatever they want, while also acting as gatekeepers who censor what the American people can see and hear.
If they didn't have double standards, they wouldn't have any.
All the media have to do is report the facts fairly and objectively. They won't. And when one of their own tries to be even sort of fair and balanced — like Bari Weiss over at CBS — they lose their minds, going so far as to call the Jewish lesbian who worked for The New York Times a MAGA shill.
When you're steeped in deep partisan waters for so long, even the slightest effort to be nonpartisan seems like favoritism.
But the reality is this: legacy media is largely dying. Ratings are down, as is public trust. Refusing to cover the sitting president because you don't like him is really cutting off your nose to spite your face. They will need President Trump before he needs them, even when some judge rules he has to let CNN back into the White House.
