Vance Defends White House Press Access Limits as Outlets Sue

Vice President JD Vance has defended the decision to bar three news organisations from the White House, arguing that the move curtails special access rather than the right to report.

Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Vance rejected the characterisation that the outlets had been banned. He said the administration was declining to grant privileged access to organisations whose coverage it regards as propaganda, and pointed to what he described as a heavily negative slant in their reporting on the president and his administration.

"They're just not going to get an office in the White House anymore," Vance said, adding that he considered the step appropriate unless the outlets begin to behave like real news organisations.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued the administration after they were barred, calling the selective exclusion illegal and a blatant violation of the First Amendment. The White House has deactivated the access badges for journalists from the three organisations, preventing them from entering the grounds to file reports.

President Donald Trump attributed the ban to reporting he described as fake news. Vance said the coverage amounted to effectively left-wing propaganda, and argued that the decision rested on basic fairness. He drew a comparison with previous administrations, saying that just as Politico was as critical of Trump as Breitbart was of Barack Obama or Joe Biden, no one would have expected those earlier White Houses to grant Breitbart special access.

Vance maintained that the three outlets can still report on the Trump White House, access public reports and speak to people inside and outside the administration. He said their free-speech rights remain intact, and that the only change is the loss of a physical presence in the White House.