Trump Tells CNN Reporter 'You Should Not Be Here' at UN as Media Ban Fight Escalates

President Donald Trump opened his United Nations visit on Tuesday by telling a CNN journalist she should not be there to cover him, sharpening a standoff with news organisations that has moved swiftly from the briefing room to the courts.

As he entered the UN building ahead of his address to the General Assembly, Trump was met by CNN's Kaitlan Collins, a reporter he has frequently criticised. "It's an honor to be here," he said, before adding that he was surprised CNN was covering him and that the network "should not be here covering me." He claimed CNN had said it would not cover him — an assertion the network said was untrue.

The exchange came days after the administration barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House grounds and stripped CNN of its pool duties. CNN was nonetheless admitted to the UN as regularly credentialed media.

The three outlets filed a joint lawsuit on Monday asking a judge to find the ban unconstitutional. The White House had until Tuesday to respond, with a hearing set for Wednesday afternoon.

Later on Tuesday, Trump defended the move and said negative coverage was dangerous for the country. Asked whether he would let the outlets back in if the court ruled against the White House, he said it probably would, describing the presiding judge — Timothy Kelly, whom he appointed in 2017 — as not particularly fair. Kelly had ordered a CNN journalist's access restored in a similar case in 2018. "I think we have a right to clean out fake news," Trump said.

Since announcing the ban on Friday, Trump has cited "purposely negative stories" as justification without pointing to specific ones. The dispute is the latest chapter in a long-running conflict between the president and outlets whose coverage he rejects, a fight he has pursued through courts, regulatory action and personal criticism of individual reporters.

After her exchange with Trump, Collins said on air that CNN never said it would not cover the president and that the network would continue to do so every day.

Tuesday's White House press schedule omitted the US network pool, a break from standard practice. CNN had been the designated pool network for the New York trip under an arrangement dividing coverage among the five major networks. The other pool members agreed in solidarity not to replace CNN and to suspend all pool coverage until further notice. Other outlets took their own steps, with several news organisations deciding not to publish photographs of presidential events on Monday.

It remains unclear how long the ban and the collective media response will last. Trump was still widely seen by global audiences on Tuesday through UNTV, the United Nations' official broadcast arm, and pool journalists covering other world leaders. A sign in the White House workspace read: "I stand with CNN, MS NOW, Politico."

Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University's Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture, said the lack of constant coverage would ultimately hurt a president who thrives on attention, suggesting that may be why the standoff ends. In the short term, he said, audiences have many other ways to get news and will not be deprived of important civic information. He called Trump's characterisation of negative coverage as dangerous more troubling. "These casual remarks, not even disguised, about what we always considered basic freedoms of the press ... that, I think, is a lot more serious," he said.