OTTAWA — U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to bar three news organizations from the White House because he objects to their reporting is “fundamentally anti-democratic,” according to George Washington University professor Peter Loge.Loge, director of the university’s School of Media and Public Affairs and a former senior Food and Drug Administration adviser under Barack Obama, told the Western Standard on Wednesday that the White House belongs to the American public—not the president occupying it.“The White House doesn’t belong to Donald Trump,” Loge said. “The White House belongs to the American people.”Trump announced last week that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would be prohibited from entering White House grounds, accusing the outlets of publishing “fake news.”The three organizations subsequently filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the administration. CNN was also prevented from completing its scheduled turn providing television-pool coverage of the president.Fox News, ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC responded by suspending their shared television-pool coverage, refusing to supply a replacement for CNN..Loge said reporters are expected to challenge elected officials rather than provide favourable publicity.“If an elected official likes something a reporter says all the time, that reporter isn’t doing their job,” he said.“Part of the job of the press is to, frankly, be a pain—is to call officials to account.”Loge said presidents have the right to criticize reporting and journalists are not entitled to access every private event. He distinguished those circumstances from denying entry to credentialed reporters because of their organizations’ editorial positions.“You don’t have to agree with CNN. You don’t have to like MS NOW or Fox or whomever,” he said. “But you can’t prevent them from being in the room because you don’t like their stories.”“That’s the opposite of democracy.”Loge said the First Amendment exists specifically to protect unpopular speech, not only expression that those in power find agreeable.“The point of the First Amendment is to protect speech you don’t like,” he said. “If it only protected speech you like, then you sort of miss the point.”Loge has worked in senior roles for members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. He later served as a senior adviser to the FDA commissioner during the Obama administration, working on communications surrounding the opioid crisis, Cancer Moonshot and Precision Medicine Initiative.He said Trump’s decision fits a broader pattern that includes lawsuits against media organizations, threats against broadcast licences and previous attempts to remove individual reporters.“There’s a pattern of this president trying to intimidate the press, trying to quell free speech, trying to diminish democracy because it bothers him,” Loge said.He also warned that attacks on journalism contribute to falling confidence in American institutions.“Trust in institutions across the board in the United States is cratering,” he said. “The American people don’t trust elected officials. They don’t trust government. They don’t trust the press. They don’t trust higher education.”Loge nevertheless credited Trump with recognizing that Americans increasingly receive news from independent creators, podcasts, YouTube channels and subscription-supported publications rather than traditional television networks and newspapers.“The media are changing,” he said. “We now have independent creator-journalists—people who work outside the system.”He said the challenge is determining how non-traditional reporters should be credentialed while maintaining standards for accuracy, transparency and responsible journalism.Loge argued independent outlets should clearly disclose their sources of funding and the interests influencing their coverage. He said audiences do not necessarily expect reporters to be without perspectives, but they do expect honesty.“Just don’t lie to me,” he said. “I don’t want to be surprised.”Loge said the traditional and independent press ultimately perform the same democratic function: providing citizens with enough accurate information and context to hold their governments accountable.“Barring media outlets that the president doesn’t like, or who write nasty things about him, in the people’s house is fundamentally anti-democratic,” he said.
