Figure caption, Watch: What's the latest on the White House media ban?
ByGrace Eliza Goodwin and Sareen Habeshian Published 24 September 2026 Updated 10 minutes ago Regular US television coverage resumed on Friday after the White House was forced to lift its ban of news outlets and readmit journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico.
A federal judge had ruled on Thursday that the ban was likely unconstitutional and the administration had to let them back in, at least for now.
Trump had barred them for what he called "fake news".
After the ruling on Thursday, the White House still denied entry to some CNN and MS NOW reporters assigned to cover arrivals for a state dinner for Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
But on Friday, White House officials allowed reporters entry and coverage went back to normal for the last day of Xi's visit with Trump in Washington.
Four television networks that have a daily rotation of White House coverage along with CNN - ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC - had paused their broadcasts of the president in solidarity with the banned outlets.
Despite the judge's ruling, CNN said that about an hour before Xi was scheduled to arrive for the dinner, the White House said it could cover the event only with a photojournalist and audio technician, but not a team that included a reporter and producer.
MS NOW White House reporter Laura Barron-Lopez said she was told by White House staff that she could not be let in, and to contact the White House communications director.
The BBC has contacted the White House for comment.
A White House communications account posted on X that "contrary to what the Fake News wants you to believe, they don't just get to have free rein into every part of the White House, every event, and every press call".
The incident was the latest in a series of events on Thursday surrounding the ban on some media outlets at the White House.
Despite the overnight ruling, CNN, Politico and MS NOW all reported being denied entry to the White House on Thursday morning, prompting a request for an emergency court hearing.
In response, the director of White House Operations said in a court filing that the press passes and confiscated badges had been restored by 09:45 local time (13:45 GMT).
Shortly afterwards, all three outlets said they were allowed back in.
Image source, Reuters Image caption, CNN White House reporter Betsy Klein, seen here back at the White House on Thursday, was reportedly denied access earlier in the day In his ruling, Judge Timothy Kelly said the ban on the outlets should be temporarily lifted because it "likely violated their constitutional due process rights".
He cast doubt on White House claims that the ban was justified in part on national security grounds, pointing out the president made no mention of this in his initial announcement.
"The record lacks factual support for defendants' contention that the revocation of plaintiffs' hard passes will in fact protect national security," Kelly wrote.
Judge Kelly ruled CNN, Politico and MS NOW were "likely to succeed" in showing the White House had not exercised "adequate due process" in the ban.
He ordered the immediate return of the outlets' press passes and a halt to enforcement of the ban for 14 days.
In a court filing on Tuesday, the US Department of Justice had accused the news outlets of threatening national security with their coverage.
Government lawyers cited stories about missile stockpiles, the construction of the White House ballroom and the recent Republican midterm convention.
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By Saturday morning, each outlet reported that they were denied entry to the White House grounds and that their press badges were confiscated.
All three outlets accused the Trump administration of violating their constitutional rights.
In a joint statement on Monday, they said they were pursuing legal action to "defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports".
More than 50 media organisations across the ideological spectrum filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit, including Fox News, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.
There have been previous instances of administrations attempting to limit certain outlets' access.
The Obama administration tried to exclude Fox News from participating in a specific press pool interview with an administration official in 2009.
But after objections from the other four networks in the press pool, Fox News was allowed in.
