Barack Obama condemned President Trump’s White House press ban, but his own administration’s attempt to sideline Fox News complicates that lecture.
Obama criticized Trump’s decision during a discussion at Colgate University. He portrayed the exclusion of disfavored news organizations as a threat to democratic norms.
Trump announced last Friday that CNN, Politico, and MS Now could no longer access the White House grounds. He cited the outlets’ “negative” coverage of his administration.
The dispute raises a fair question about press access. But Obama presented himself as unable to imagine conduct resembling what his own White House attempted in 2009.
That year, the Obama administration tried to keep Fox News pool reporters from interviewing executive-pay official Kenneth Feinberg. Other members of the press pool were allowed access.
During the Colgate discussion, Obama offered this hypothetical, as the New York Post reported:
“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!”
But the 2009 episode came close enough to test that claim. CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC protested the planned exclusion of Fox News, and the Obama administration backed down.
The administration’s public position toward Fox was hardly neutral. Anita Dunn, then White House communications director, called the network a source of Republican Party talking points.
Dunn went further: “But we don’t think we need to treat them as though they are a news organization the way other news organizations here are treated.”
Obama also told NBC News, “If media is operating basically as a talk radio format, that’s one thing. But it’s not something I’m losing a lot of sleep over.”
Those statements reveal the contradiction. Obama now condemns an administration for restricting hostile media while overlooking his White House’s effort to deny Fox equal treatment.
The Obama administration’s broader press record also included aggressive leak investigations. It obtained phone records covering dozens of Associated Press lines and used subpoenas and other tactics under Attorney General Eric Holder.
Officials later reviewed those practices and adopted new protections for reporters. That response matters, but it does not erase the conduct that made reform necessary.
Obama argued at Colgate that Americans must better understand what democracy requires. That standard must include an honest account of his own administration’s choices.
Jacqui Heinrich, the Fox News correspondent who leads the White House Correspondents Association, defended a principle that applies regardless of who occupies the Oval Office.
“The American people, through a free and independent press, must be able to scrutinize those elected to power, regardless of whether government officials view it favorably,” Heinrich said.
The exact terms and duration of Trump’s restrictions were not specified. Nor was a written White House order identified, leaving important questions about how the ban will operate.
Still, Obama’s criticism cannot be separated from his record. His administration challenged Fox News’ status, attempted unequal access, and changed course only after other networks objected.
A free-press standard that changes with the party in power is no standard at all. Accountability starts with applying one rule to everyone.
