Melania allows CNN reporter – despite Trump’s media ban

Dispute with US media

Despite Trump’s ban, Melania lets CNN accompany her

CNN remains locked out of the White House. But now Melania Trump, of all people, is being accompanied by a reporter from the station.

Melania Trump’s office told the station CNN apparently granted press permission for an event with the First Lady – and thus a notable exception to a previously imposed ban on the channel by the US President Donald Trump approved.

Just last week, Donald Trump issued a ban on several media outlets: the news channel CNN, the political portal “Politico” and MS NOW were excluded from reporting from the White House. Your reporters lost their access.

• Trump’s media war: Why even Fox News shows solidarity with CNN
• Comment on Trump’s attack on press freedom: This is not his White House

Trump based the measure on his platform Truth Social with alleged “fake news” – i.e. factually incorrect news – and the accusation that the broadcasters spread “fiction and lies” when they talk about him, his government or the USA reported.

The three media companies have now filed a lawsuit against Trump and leading advisers – they see the exclusion as a direct attack on freedom of the press according to the First Amendment. A court ordered the government to respond by Tuesday.

Despite this ban, CNN reporter Betsy Klein has now received accreditation for an appointment Melania Trump in new York. According to The Independent, the first lady’s office confirmed that Klein received press clearance for Tuesday’s “Fostering the Future Together” event. The event takes place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and is intended to highlight private partnerships with technology companies, according to USA Today. The program title “Fostering the Future Together” alludes to the joint promotion and shaping of the future within the framework of these collaborations.

Klein works as a senior White House reporter for CNN. The previous week, she reported that Secret Service officials had confiscated her press pass at a checkpoint at the White House after the press ban went into effect.

In this context, CNN’s chief media analyst, Brian Stelter, spoke of impending “creative” ways of reporting on the channel: Reporters would try to get accredited through other channels – for example through the First Lady’s office. The Klein case could confirm exactly this strategy.