Is America about to get state-run TV?

TRUMP100

Mark Stone and James Matthews discuss the escalating conflict between Donald Trump and major news organizations following the ban of CNN, MS NOW, and

Key takeaways

• Donald Trump banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from White House access, accusing them of spreading fake news.
• Major media outlets are protesting the ban by refusing to broadcast images of presidential events in solidarity with banned journalists.

Main topics

• Trump vs Media conflict
• White House press access bans

Notable quotes

It's sick. I mean, there's something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories.

Conclusion

The episode highlights the growing tension between the presidency and

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) The most excruciating period of Speaker 4 (0:02) politics that I can ever remember. Speaker 3 (0:05) I have to say, as a government minister, never quite sure what the cabinet office did, but just hold meetings. It's gone down like a bucket of sick. Speaker 4 (0:12) I kind of thought that decades of experience meant Speaker 2 (0:15) that you weren't swallowing this vapid... Oh, blimey! Speaker 4 (0:18) Hello and welcome to Electoral Dysfunction with me, Beth Rigby. Me, Ruth Davidson. Me, Harriet Harman. And me, Jess Phillips. Electoral Dysfunction, wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 4 (0:32) Sky News, the full story first. Speaker 2 (0:38) Hi, Mark, how are you doing? You're in New York. I Speaker 3 (0:41) am indeed. New York City. Sitting right outside the UN building, which is a big tall skyscraper just behind me in Midtown. Yeah, it's good to be here. UN General Assembly. Speaker 2 (0:53) Fantastic. We missed you at the weekend because, of course, you were back home in the UK. We missed you at the White House Photographers News Awards, celebrating our own Ed Young, cameraman, and Michael Hurd, our other... cameraman here. Quite a night, all in tuxes, of course. Very Speaker 3 (1:12) smart, James. Speaker 2 (1:13) Well, you know, it's not a look that I necessarily favour, but once a year. And... Speaker 3 (1:19) Do you bring out your inner James Bond? I bet you do a good Sean Connery. Speaker 2 (1:25) Surely Sean must do it. Speaker 2 (1:28) I sent the photo to my dad, all of us in our dinner jackets and bow ties. Kasia was there, producer. She was in a dress, not a tux. And in the email, my caption was, dressed like a count. What do you think my dad's response was? Speaker 3 (1:45) Go on. Speaker 2 (1:46) You still can't spell. Speaker 3 (1:50) Very good. I like his sense of humour. Speaker 2 (1:53) Yeah, an oldie but a goldie. Speaker 2 (1:58) I'm James Matthews in the Trump 100 studio in Washington, D.C. Speaker 3 (2:02) And I am Mark Stone at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, where Donald Trump will be over the course of the day ahead. Speaker 2 (2:10) Yeah, Donald Trump versus the media. That's a dirty fight getting dirtier. Are we seeing the advent of state-run Trump TV? We'll discuss. Speaker 3 (2:20) Yeah, all in a big week for the president. As I said, he is here in New York for the United Nations General Assembly before welcoming President Xi Jinping of China to the White House later this week. If there is one meeting in the world that everyone should watch this week, it is that. And we will discuss. what it means. Speaker 2 (2:40) Also, Donald Trump's giant triumphal arch in Washington. Remember that? Well, he's been accessorizing. It will now come with drones, snipers and ammunition storage. Speaker 3 (2:51) Even in the mad Trump world that we're living in, I thought that was some sort of a joke, but apparently not. Speaker 2 (3:00) Now, Donald Trump has a love-hate relationship with the TV. He loves being on it, except when he hates it. And he hates it when he's being criticised, which he frequently is, on the Iran war, diesel prices, affordability, his approval ratings. There is a lot of bad news when it comes to reporting this president. He calls it fake news, which is why he implemented this ban last week. Speaker 3 (3:27) Yeah, on Friday, Donald Trump announced that he was banning CNN, MSNOW and Politico from White House access. Seemingly out of nowhere, he accused them of spreading what he called fake news and warned that there could be other outlets could be in for the same treatment. And when they tried to get into the White House on Saturday, they discovered that their passes were not working. Speaking in the Oval Office, as all this was unfolding, this was his defence of the decision to ban them. Speaker 1 (3:56) It's sick. I mean, there's something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories. Now, if they want to write them, that's fine. But I don't have to let them into my into the people's house. Speaker 2 (4:12) Bit of a Freudian slip from the president there for me, Mark. Is it his house or is it the people's house? I think his indecision goes to the heart of so much of the controversy around Donald Trump's presidency. Speaker 2 (4:27) Putting it all down to fake news last week, I can tell you he's upgraded that to a national security threat today on Truth Social. He wrote this, virtually every story about me or anything having to do with me is negative, wrong and in many cases dangerous for our country. No matter how great my achievements, they trivialise and demean. Which, Mark, I think that loosely translates as infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me. Speaker 3 (4:55) Yeah, James, I was interested to see how the rest of the US media pack would react to this news, because I think it was, was it Friday or Saturday that the employees of these three organisations discovered that Trump was serious, the gate that you and I and our colleagues go in and out of to the White House all the time. The security services stopped them from coming in, their passes taken away from them. At that point, I was wondering how the rest of the pack would react. Would they all... walk out of the White House, would they all down tools and say, well, hang on a minute, if you're not allowing them in, we're not going in either. It's taken a little while, hasn't it? It didn't happen immediately. It took till Monday for others in solidarity to tweak the way that they operate within the White House. Speaker 2 (5:43) That's right, Mark. Yeah. And, you know, I'm in Washington, D.C. My job today was to go to this ribbon cutting ceremony, which is a ribbon cutting for the new helipad. So something this president would have wanted to celebrate. And it was one of those days where you have a decision to make. There have been three organizations, CNN, Politico and MSNOW, as you say, banned. They are going to court. They are arguing that their First Amendment rights, freedom of the press as enshrined in the Constitution, is being violated. CNN, well, they were the pool today, so they were essentially going to travel with Donald Trump. That's what happens. You get a pool crew, typically travels with the president, makes those words and pictures available to all media outlets. That's why on all our TV screens we have quality coverage of. the president and we can hear what he's saying and see him. So CNN, they've been