President Donald Trump’s ongoing battle with the free press came to one of its biggest heads last month when he revoked the White House credentials for journalists of three major media organizations.

On Sept. 18, Trump announced on Truth Social that CNN, MS NOW, and Politico would be barred from the White House. The president called the media outlets “fake news” and accused them of consistently reporting “fiction and lies” when covering him, his administration, and the United States of America.

Three days later, the three media outlets filed a federal lawsuit against the administration, alleging the government was violating their First Amendment rights to free speech and their Fifth Amendment rights to due process, as they were not given notice of the ban nor an opportunity to challenge the decision. 

Several outlets showed solidarity for the ousted three in a joint statement, arguing, “No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.” Additionally, media outlets who participate in joint television coverage of the White House — ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and NBC — said they would suspend coverage of White House events in a show of protest, though rotational pool coverage has resumed as CNN’s credentials continue to be sporadically blocked. 

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on Sept. 24 that ordered the president to immediately restore White House credentials to the three media outlets, saying the ban was likely unconstitutional. In spite of this, the saga still raises alarm bells toward the democratic erosion occurring in the United States. 

In “How Democracies Die,” Harvard University political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt outline several tools used by authoritarian politicians to erode democracies. 

One way that they do this is strategically manipulating elections, and since Trump has repeatedly teased a 2028 presidential campaign — despite there being a two-term limit — it’s fair for us to examine this method and where the media plays in. As part of leaders’ strategy to manipulate elections, Levitsky and Ziblatt say elected leaders may crack down on the independent media or even hamper opposition media access. Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW, and Politico marks a clear adoption of this strategy. 

Additionally, Levitsky and Ziblatt outline how democracies become endangered when mainstream political parties attempt to co-opt a populist outsider, who positions themselves as the representative of the “pure people” fighting against a corrupt political elite, which they refuse to recognize as legitimate. The United States has seen a rise in Trumpism, which is a form of populism centered around President Trump as the leader of the “pure people.” 

Populists claim a moral mandate that causes them to show less respect for, and a tendency to circumvent, the democratic rules of the game. They often indicate a willingness to curtail the civil liberties of their opponents, which can include the media. We see this with Trump’s battle with the press, as the three banned media outlets are ones he’s consistently discredited for their “negative” coverage of him. 

When it comes to the decision of media outlets to suspend their pooled TV coverage of the president, there are pros and cons. Their decision to cease coverage is intended to impose a cost on Trump, because their coverage helps him to broadcast his message to the American people. 

However, while the decision is an attempt to assert the media’s independence — or its discretion to decide alone who, what, and when it covers — it also removes the American people’s eyes and ears on the government, giving way for the Trump administration to control its own narrative and spread mis- or disinformation. (The White House launched an alternative, 24/7 YouTube channel called “Trump TV” after the media outlets were barred, which Democrats and press-freedom advocates criticized as “state-run media.”) 

We’ve seen similar cases of the U.S. government attempting to restrict the press before, including after the New York Times published the Pentagon Papers in 1971. The Nixon administration placed the Times on a temporary injunction to halt further publication of the papers, a move that the Supreme Court later deemed an unconstitutional exercise of prior restraint. But the show of media solidarity seen during this case was not to collectively cease coverage, but to continue coverage, when the Washington Post led the charge to publish the Pentagon Papers despite fear of legal retribution from the government.

Should Trump attempt to further limit press access to the White House for CNN, MS NOW, Politico, or other news outlets, ceasing coverage may not be the appropriate form of protest. In “What Is Populism?” political scientist Jan-Werner Müller argues that to deal with populists, political actors including the media should engage. Ignoring them only reinforces populist supporters’ view of elites, so media outlets should continue to report thoroughly on the government in any way they can, despite any attempts to bar them, fact-checking political leaders and ensuring the American people can fully engage in democracy.

Gerstein, Josh, and Kyle Cheney. “News outlets Trump banned from White House file lawsuit.” Politico, 21 September 2026, https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/21/news-outlets-trump-banned-from-white-house-announce-lawsuit-01085995. Accessed 2 October 2026.

Lee, Chantelle. “TV Networks Resume White House Pool Coverage—With a Caveat.” TIME, 29 September 2026, https://time.com/article/2026/09/29/trump-white-house-press-pool-tv-networks-cnn/. Accessed 2 October 2026.

Levitsky, Steven, and Daniel Ziblatt. How Democracies Die. Crown, 2018.

Müller, Jan-Werner. What Is Populism? University of Pennsylvania Press, Incorporated, 2016.

Neuman, Scott. “New Trump TV promises 24/7 coverage of White House events.” NPR, 22 September 2026, https://www.npr.org/2026/09/22/nx-s1-5977768/trump-tv-media-ban-white-house. Accessed 2 October 2026.

“New York Times Co. v. United States (The Pentagon Papers Case) (1971).” The National Constitution Center, https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/supreme-court-case-library/new-york-times-co-v-united-states-the-pentagon-papers-case. Accessed 2 October 2026.

“Pentagon Papers Ruling Issued Five Years Ago.” The New York Times, 1 July 1976, https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/01/archives/pentagon-papers-ruling-issued-five-years-ago.html.

Watkins, Ali. “Networks Suspend Pool Coverage of Trump After White House Bars CNN.” The New York Times, 21 September 2026, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/business/media/cnn-trump-press-pool-ban.html. Accessed 2 October 2026.

Wemple, Erik. “Judge Blocks Trump’s White House Ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico.” The New York Times, 23 September 2026, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/business/media/cnn-ms-now-politico-white-house-trump-ban-ruling.html. Accessed 2 October 2026.