Arabic version: ثلاث مؤسسات إعلامية أميركية تخطط لمقاضاة البيت الأبيض بسبب حظرها

According to BBC News, CNN, Politico and MS NOW said they will sue the Trump administration after their reporters were barred from the White House. President Donald Trump announced the ban on Friday, accusing the organisations of publishing “fiction or lies” about his government.

The outlets said their journalists were denied entry and had their badges seized when they tried to enter the building on Saturday. In a joint statement on Monday, CNN, Politico and MS NOW said they were taking legal action to “protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes”.

The First Amendment bars the government from abridging press freedom, and courts have traditionally interpreted that protection as preventing discrimination against media organisations over the content of their coverage. The companies said the White House had revoked their journalists’ credentials “without notice or process” because it objected to their reporting.

Trump did not identify particular reports when he announced the ban, later describing the decision as based on “cumulative stories over the last few years”. He also said there “may be others to join them”, later calling the New York Times and the Washington Post “fake news”. BBC News said it had asked the White House for comment.

CNN had been due to cover Trump’s UN General Assembly trip as one of five US outlets in the White House television press pool, but its slot remained vacant. In February, the administration took control of the press pool and also restricted Associated Press access over its use of “Gulf of Mexico” rather than “Gulf of America”. AP filed a lawsuit that remains ongoing.