Italy

Rome, September 22, 2026. The Italian press is closely following the escalating situation between Donald Trump and three American newsrooms, and is primarily focusing on the theatricality of the presidential response rather than the sole judicial battle. CNN, MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) and Politico announced on Monday a lawsuit based on the First Amendment after the withdrawal, on Saturday, of their White House accreditations. An emergency hearing is expected as early as this week before a federal court in Washington, ANSA reports, noting that the case has been assigned to Judge Tim Kelly, who was appointed by Trump himself: a detail that the president immediately commented on via Truth Social, recalling that the same judge had previously ruled in favor of CNN journalist Jim Acosta.

But it's the White House's media counterattack that's making headlines in Italian newspapers. Adnkronos is devoting most of its coverage to the launch, on Monday at 7pm, of "Trump TV: The Essentials Station", a continuous YouTube broadcast presented by the president's vice assistant Kaelan Dorr as a response to a press that "has reported inaccurately, or not at all, the many successes" of the administration. The very first program broadcast was not a current event, but an old speech by Trump delivered at Mount Rushmore on July 3.

Rome is also noting the vigor of the president's language: on Truth, Trump called the journalists from the three newsrooms "pagliacci di terz'ordine", third-rate clowns who "desecrate" the Oval Office, while assuring that his administration is not targeting "la stampa libera" but "fake news", which he compared to a "cancer" threatening national security. La Repubblica is highlighting the response from competing channels: ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and even Fox News, which is usually close to the president, have announced that they will withdraw from the presidential pool rather than cover White House events in place of CNN, in a joint statement judging that "the public has a vital interest in receiving accurate and independent information about its own government".

For the Italian press, this rare unity between usually rival media outlets, which occurred on the same day that Trump spoke at the UN General Assembly in New York, illustrates how the presidential measure has produced the opposite effect of what was intended.