Courtesy of HBCUNEWS.com
The White House does not belong to Donald Trump. It belongs to the American people.
And Black Americans have particular reason to care about who gets inside, who gets to ask questions and who gets to report back to the communities most affected by decisions made there.
For nearly 200 years, the Black Press has existed in part because we could not depend on others to tell our stories, ask our questions or challenge those in power on our behalf. Access has never been an abstract issue for us.
In 1944, Harry S. McAlpin became the first Black journalist to cover a presidential news conference, even as the White House Correspondents’ Association refused him membership. Decades later, as recently as 2022, the National Newspaper Publishers Association celebrated obtaining a White House hard pass for its national correspondent as a historic achievement.
That history matters now.
Trump’s decision to bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House may involve three large national news organizations, but the principle reaches far beyond them.
If government access can depend on whether those in power approve of a news organization’s coverage, smaller outlets and historically excluded journalists have every reason to pay attention.
So do the people we serve.
The Trump administration is making consequential decisions involving diversity, equity and inclusion, the federal workforce and how American history — including African-American history — is presented at institutions such as the Smithsonian. These are not peripheral issues for Black America. They directly affect our jobs, our institutions, our history and how that history is told.
We need journalists in the room asking about them.
There is another part of this story Black journalists cannot ignore: Trump’s own documented treatment of Black women reporters who have questioned him.
He called veteran White House correspondent April Ryan a “loser” and “very nasty.” He told CNN’s Abby Phillip that she asked “a lot of stupid questions.” When PBS correspondent Yamiche Alcindor asked whether his use of the word “nationalist” was emboldening white nationalists, Trump called the question “racist.”
And at the 2024 National Association of Black Journalists convention, ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott opened an interview by asking Trump about his record and previous comments concerning Black people and Black journalists. Rather than simply answer, Trump attacked the way she asked the question, calling her introduction rude and saying he had never been asked a question in such a “horrible manner.”
NABJ had already condemned Trump years earlier for repeated verbal attacks on Black women journalists.
That history provides important context for what is happening today.
Journalists are not above criticism. We should be accurate. We should correct mistakes. We should distinguish fact from opinion. Legitimate national security concerns should be taken seriously.
And presidents have every right to challenge our reporting.
But there is a difference between criticizing the press and controlling access to it.
Trump initially announced the ban while denouncing the three organizations as “fake news.” The administration later offered additional arguments involving professionalism, decorum and the publication of sensitive or classified national-security information.
Those arguments are now being tested in court.
At a Sept. 23 hearing, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly questioned whether the administration had followed existing federal appellate precedent when it removed the organizations’ access. He did not immediately rule on their request to return to the White House.
That legal process may move quickly. A ruling could come before this editorial is published.
Our concern does not depend on the timing or outcome of that ruling.
The larger question remains: Should an administration be able to determine which journalists retain access based on its judgment of their reporting?
We believe the answer should not depend on whether the president likes the story, the question or the person asking it.
Other news organizations clearly recognize the stakes. ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC suspended their pooled television coverage after CNN was prevented from carrying out its scheduled White House pool assignment. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, joined by 50 media outlets and industry organizations, also went to court in support of restoring access.
That solidarity matters.
So does NABJ’s voice.
NABJ President Errin Haines put the issue plainly: government officials should not be able to reward favorable reporting with access or withhold access as punishment for scrutiny.
“The White House belongs to the American people,” Haines said.
Exactly.
The Black Press has spent nearly two centuries making certain Black people were included among those Americans.
When Freedom’s Journal was founded in 1827, Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm declared, “We wish to plead our own cause.” The AFRO has carried that responsibility since 1892.
That work has never depended on whether people in power liked our questions.
It cannot now.
Access to the White House is not about prestige, proximity to power or a coveted seat in a briefing room. It is about whether the people we serve can know what their government is doing in their name.
Black journalists fought too long for access to treat it as a favor.
And the Black Press has too much history with exclusion to be silent about who gets pushed out of the room.
**AFRO Publisher and CEO Frances Murphy Draper argues that the White House’s restriction of access for major news organizations should concern the Black Press because government access must not become a tool for rewarding favorable coverage or punishing scrutiny. Drawing on the Black Press’s long history of fighting exclusion, she says Black journalists must remain vigilant in defending press access and ensuring Black communities can see and question how government decisions affect their lives. Credit: Unsplash / Nils Huenerfuerst
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