SAN FRANCISCO
Lee Heidhues 9.23.2026
On Deutsche Welle veteran CNN reporter and now university professor Frank Sesno articulated the ramifications for the press, the White House and the viewing public of Trump’s censoring White House media coverage.
Frank Sesno is an American journalist, former CNN correspondent, anchor, and Washington bureau chief. He is also author, and former director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University.[1] Frank Sesno – Wikipedia
The Deutsche Welle interview can be viewed by opening the attachment.
https://www.dw.com/en/trump-vs-the-press-who-controls-the-story/video-79401998
Wednesday afternoon a Federal judge in Washington DC heard the argument for a restraining order from three networks banished from the White House. The judge, a Trump appointee, appeared skeptical of Trump’s action. But took the matter under submission and expects to make ruling soon.
Excerpted from The New York Times 9.23.2026
The judge hearing a challenge to President Trump’s attempt to block three news outlets from the White House said on Wednesday he would consider the argument offered by both sides and issue his ruling as soon as possible, leaving in place — at least for now — the president’s block on CNN, MS NOW and Politico.
The judge, Timothy J. Kelly of U.S. District Court in Washington, seemed skeptical of the administration’s arguments but did not immediately rule on the request by the three outlets to restore their access to the White House complex.
Meanwhile, coverage of Trump by the Press ‘Pool’, which includes Trump reliable Fox News has ceased which means Trump, by his own action, no longer receives the blanket media coverage he craves.
Fox News’s bond with President Trump is undeniable. Prime time stars like Sean Hannity and Jesse Watters cheerlead his policies, the president’s daughter-in-law hosts a weekly show on the network, and Fox’s founder, Rupert Murdoch, attended Mr. Trump’s nominating convention in 2024.
Nonetheless, this week Fox News has joined other networks in standing up for the rival media outlets that Mr. Trump decried as “fake” and banned from the White House — and two senior Fox journalists emerged as lead actors in the White House press corps’ standoff with the administration.
Fox News did not hesitate to go along with the plan. On Tuesday night, for instance, Fox was the scheduled pool crew for Mr. Trump’s Air Force One arrival at Joint Base Andrews, but it declined to film the event.
A Fox News spokeswoman referred an inquiry on Wednesday to a joint statement from the five networks, which Fox co-signed: “No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”
