The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) has urged the Trump administration to lift the president’s White House ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico—but stopped short of calling for a broader boycott of the White House.
The WHCA’s statement on President Donald Trump’s ban did not exactly go over well online, with journalists, members of the public, and political leaders taking to social media to demand a broader White House boycott.
Many critics brought up the predictable danger of a press corps too close to—or too intimidated by—the president after hobnobbing with Trump at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, even as he insulted the media.
In a move that reportedly startled his aides, Trump announced Friday on Truth Social that he was banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House because of their “fake news,” without citing specific examples.
The WHCA, in a statement from its president and Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, called Trump’s ban a violation of the First Amendment.
“The American people, through a free and independent press, must be able to scrutinize those elected to power, regardless of whether government officials view it favorably. That’s why courts have repeatedly held that once the White House provides access to journalists, it cannot deny that access arbitrarily or based on the content of their reporting,” the statement read.
One X user said Trump would likely cave in the face of a press boycott, adding: “Trump craves the attention like an 8-year-old child and would lose his mind if the WHCA boycotted him.”
Prolific X commenter #TuckFrump noted: “The press should boycott the White House... full stop.”
Prominent independent journalist Seth Abramson slammed the “cowardly” press corps.
“If the White House Press Corps does anything but boycott all White House events going forward, it’s a spectacular act of institutional cowardice,“ he wrote. ”You don’t give a *single inch* to fascists—and that means standing together rather than treating fascism as someone else’s problem."
During an interview on MS NOW, former CNN correspondent Jim Acosta urged major networks and newspapers to pull their people unless the bans are lifted. He noted the difficulty journalists now face working for corporations while navigating relations with Trump.
Maryland Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin also called on the news media to launch a collective boycott of the White House. “Every self-respecting media entity in America should boycott what’s left of the White House if [Trump] keeps violating press freedom,” he wrote on X.
New York Democratic Rep. Daniel Goldman urged on X: “Every single media outlet that believes in the ‘free press’ should boycott the White House press room until Trump lifts his absurd ban on media outlets he doesn’t like. This is an attack on all of the press—not just those outlets—and it must be met with unity and solidarity.”
Progressive attorney Marc E. Elias, founder of The Democracy Docket, asked on X: “Has any news outlet agreed to boycott the White House until CNN, MS NOW, and Politico are reinstated? Has WHCA said no more black-tie dinners honoring Trump? If not, the ‘solidarity’ of the legacy media reminds me of [Republican Maine Congresswoman] Susan Collins showing ‘concern.’”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and the WHCA for comment.
