France

Paris, September 23, 2026. For the French press, the episode that began on Friday, September 18, with the banishment of CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House is first and foremost a gesture of domestic politics. On Truth Social, Donald Trump had announced "with immediate effect" the ban on access for the three media outlets, accused of "accumulating" unfavorable coverage and threatening "national security" with their "false information". He had promised that "other media outlets spreading false information will follow".

Interviewed by RFI, journalist Olivier Knox, former president of the association of White House correspondents, situates the decision in "a context of frustration": plummeting polls on economic management and the war in Iran, a proposed $5,000 check that was poorly received, difficulty in mobilizing Republican candidates ahead of the November midterm elections. This interpretation places the media showdown in the electoral calendar rather than in a simple editorial dispute.

The response from the newsrooms was surprising in its scope: on Monday, September 21, the four other members of the White House "pool" - CBS, ABC, NBC, and notably Fox News, a channel usually conciliatory towards the president - suspended their joint coverage. "From today, the TV pool will not cover events attended by the president," announced Fox representative Bryan Boughton. Immediate consequence: the inauguration of a helicopter platform at the White House, on the same Monday, was broadcast without sound, due to the lack of a microphone provided by a journalist.

On the same day, the White House launched "Trump TV", a free YouTube channel broadcasting continuously, promising "the best moments from the past" of the administration. An official message summarizes the ambition: "Not all the big moments have been on your TV. Now it's possible." For HuffPost, the setup evokes George Orwell's "1984" and its telescreen. CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, on their part, have filed a complaint, citing a "direct attack on the First Amendment". On Tuesday, at the UN, Donald Trump was annoyed by the presence of a CNN journalist who came to question him about an unfavorable poll concerning Iran: "You shouldn't be here."