Nicolai Haugsted
Obama’s criticism of Trump comes back to haunt him as old Fox News dispute resurfaces.
Barack Obama has spent much of his post-presidency warning about political norms he believes are being eroded in Washington. Donald Trump’s latest battle with the press has now given him another example – although critics did not need long to reach for the history books.
Trump announced Friday that journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico would no longer be allowed into the White House, accusing the organizations of spreading “fake news.”
Obama condemned the decision and described the prospect of a president simply throwing a major news organization out of the White House as “unimaginable.”
Critics promptly reminded him that his own administration had a memorable confrontation with Fox News back in 2009.
The similarities, however, only go so far.
Obama says Trump’s move was once “unimaginable”
Trump announced the ban on Truth Social on Friday, September 18, writing that the three organizations would no longer be welcome at the White House.
Journalists from all three outlets were subsequently turned away on Saturday. CBS News witnessed MS NOW staff being denied entry, while affected reporters said their credentials had been disabled.
Obama criticized the decision while discussing democratic norms and press freedom.
“I’m trying to think what would have happened if I had said, you know what, Fox News, you’re out of here! It’s unimaginable!” Obama said.
Trump’s decision immediately generated criticism from news organizations and press-freedom advocates, while some conservative media figures have also questioned it. Trump initially cited “fake news” without identifying individual stories that prompted the punishment.
Critics dust off a 17-year-old Fox News dispute
Obama’s choice of Fox News as his example gave opponents an obvious opening.
Back in October 2009, his administration was locked in a very public feud with the conservative network.
White House officials had criticized Fox’s journalism, with then-communications director Anita Dunn saying the network often operated as “either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican party.” Obama himself argued that Fox sometimes operated in what he described as a “talk radio format.”
The dispute became more concrete when the Treasury Department arranged interviews with Kenneth Feinberg, who was overseeing executive compensation under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Fox was initially left out.
Other members of the television pool objected and insisted that Fox be included. The administration ultimately relented, and Fox correspondent Major Garrett participated alongside journalists from the other networks.
Critics seized on that episode after Obama’s latest comments, according to The Irish Times.
“Obama did ban Fox News, What a hypocrite!” one social media user wrote, claiming that pressure from other journalists forced the administration to reverse course.
“President Obama tried to cut Fox News off within the first six months of his first term, in 2009,” another wrote.
Similar fight, very different scale
Calling the two episodes identical leaves out an important distinction.
Obama’s administration did try to exclude Fox from a specific round of interviews, according to contemporary reporting. The attempt lasted only briefly before Fox participated after objections from the other networks. Fox journalists were not broadly stripped of access to the White House.
Accounts of precisely how the 2009 exclusion happened were also disputed at the time.
Treasury denied deliberately plotting to exclude Fox and said the network ultimately received the same interview opportunity as its competitors. Later-released emails nevertheless showed a White House media official writing, “we’d prefer if you skip Fox please,” providing evidence that excluding the network had at least been discussed internally.
Trump’s 2026 action is considerably broader.
His order targets CNN, MS NOW and Politico as organizations and bars their journalists from White House access. Staff members from those outlets were actually turned away after the announcement.
Trump points to years of coverage
Trump later addressed his reasoning from the Oval Office, pointing not to one article but to the organizations’ output over a much longer period.
Reports from inside the White House suggest the announcement caught some administration officials by surprise. Sources told Business Insider that senior staff members were still trying to understand the scope of Trump’s decision after he posted it publicly.
CNN has defended its journalists.
“CNN stands fully behind our White House team and their fair and accurate reporting,” the network said.
Politico also pledged to continue covering the administration and said it would “vigorously defend our First Amendment rights against any attempt to restrict them.”
Press organizations and legal experts have raised constitutional concerns because government restrictions imposed on journalists because of their viewpoints can run afoul of First Amendment protections.
