Thursday, October 15, 2026
The Press Club of Long Island was among the press organizations that, along with newspapers and other media, voiced their opposition to the move by President Trump last month to ban journalists from three major media outlets from the White House.
However, a U.S. District Court judge responding to a lawsuit brought by the three outlets — CNN, MS Now and Politico — issued a restraining order directing the White House to lift the prohibition. Judge Timothy Kelly, appointed by Trump in 2017, ruled that the media outlets had shown a “high likelihood of success” with their claim that their due-process rights had been violated.
The PCLI issued a statement condemning Trump’s action, saying, “Press freedom is at the heart of our democracy and a constitutional right.” The statement continued: “The vital role of journalists cannot be overstated, Journalists inform the public and hold power to account. Restricting journalists from the White House undermines the public’s right to factual and independent reporting and only serves to weaken the transparency upon which our democracy is dependent.”
“We proudly stand with our fellow journalists and call for a reversal of this decision immediately,” the PCLI said.
As the founding president of the press club in 1974, spurred in encouraging its formation by the jailing of a journalist for not divulging a confidential source, I am proud of its action. It is now one of the largest chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists, which describes itself as “the nation’s most broad-based journalism organization, dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism.”
Trump said he was barring those media outlets’ access to the White House because, as he wrote on Truth Social, “Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America.”
The Manhattan-based New York Press Club issued a statement saying, “Trump’s latest attack on the First Amendment in banning Politico, MS Now and CNN from covering the White House is yet another slap in the face to freedom of the press in the United States.”
It went on: “All media outlets, the Congress, Republicans, Democrats and independents, and the public should come together to denounce this breach of American democracy. The president continues to diminish the people’s right to be informed about the news of the day from the White House and limits the public’s right to know by restricting access and admitting only those in agreement with him.”
The Washington, D.C.-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which describes itself as “the leading pro bono legal services organization for journalists and newsrooms in the U.S.,” filed a friend-of-the-court brief accompanying the outlets’ lawsuit. Bruce D. Brown, its president, said, “Amid so many attacks from the Trump administration on journalists, this one has really struck a chord because the public can easily get its head around what has happened here. The president has kicked news organizations out of the White House because he does not like the news they report. That is a brazen violation of the First Amendment that the courts should quickly reverse in order to protect the public interest.”
Status, an online media review, said the “press ban comes amid a broader pattern of threats and attempts by Trump to muzzle the media during his second term.” It declared, “Suffice to say, such behavior is far more aligned with authoritarian leaders than the person who is supposed to be the leader of the free world. Trump, however, does not seem to mind. Asked by reporters what message his ban sends to countries like China that are ‘repressive’ against journalists, Trump disturbingly responded: ‘I think we’re repressive also.’”
The founders of the United States, the framers of the U.S. Constitution, created a system of checks and balances among the three branches of the federal government — the administrative, legislative and judicial branches — and a free press to serve as a watchdog of them all. Said Thomas Jefferson: “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”
That system should be treasured and live on.
Karl Grossman has been an investigative reporter in a variety of media for more than 50 years. He is a professor of journalism at the State University of New York at Old Westbury.
