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NEW YORK — <\/span>Reporters from three major news organizations \u2014 CNN, MS NOW and Politico \u2014 were denied access to the White House on Saturday morning, with reporters from the two cable networks both going live to report they\u2019d been barred following a ban imposed by President Donald Trump.<\/a><\/p>\n The actions escalated Trump\u2019s long-running efforts in administrative action \u2014 and sometimes in the courts \u2014 to restrict news coverage by journalists he finds objectionable, and is the latest test of First Amendment protections in the United States. Trump said Friday he would ban both organizations and also Politico, because of their coverage \u2014 which he called \u201cfake news.\u201d<\/p>\n Politico said its White House reporter Cheyenne Haslett was also denied entry to the White House and had her badge confiscated. The announcement came shortly after the turning away of MS NOW and CNN journalists. <\/p>\n Editor-in-chief Jonathan Greenberger said in a statement to the Politico newsroom: \u201cWe stand by her and all reporters here covering the White House. \u2026 We will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights.\u201d<\/p>\n CNN and MS NOW have issued similar statements. \u201cWe will not be deflected from our duty to hold the government and other public bodies to account,\u201d it said. The statement was shown on the air before senior White House reporter Betsy Klein began to report on her ban. <\/p>\n MS NOW also said in a statement that it stands behind its journalists. \u201cThe White House belongs to the American people and the decisions made inside are funded by our tax dollars,\u201d the network said in a statement Saturday. \u201cMS NOW intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy.\u201d’<\/p>\n In his second term, Trump and his administration have upped the ante and punished certain media outlets, both in the courtroom and through regulatory action. Trump has also lashed out at individual reporters in person or over social media, sometimes in strikingly personal terms.<\/p>\n Both CNN White House reporter Betsy Klein and MS NOW reporter Akayla Gardner went on the air to report they’d been banned from entering the White House. <\/p>\n Network correspondents are usually present on the weekends when the president is in Washington or at nearby Camp David. Trump is at the presidential retreat in Maryland this weekend. Politico journalists typically are not at the White House on Saturdays. <\/p>\n Gardner was turned away and her entry badge confiscated, she said. She noted she had walked through two gates successfully, but once she got to where her badge needed to be scanned, an officer told her it was disabled and asked her to hand it over. He said the decision \u201cwas above him,” she reported. An MS NOW producer was able to get in, but a photographer’s badge was also disabled, Gardner said. <\/p>\n Klein, senior White House reporter at CNN, also said her badge had been deactivated.<\/p>\n CNN media analyst Brian Stelter called the move \u201ca direct threat to press freedom in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so much bigger than CNN,\u201d Stelter said. \u201cThis is a free speech test in America.\u201d<\/p>\n The president wrote on his social media site Friday that effective immediately, \u201cI am banning\u201d CNN, MS NOW and Politico \u201cfrom the White House as a result of their constant \u2018reporting\u2019 FAKE NEWS!\u201d Minutes later, speaking at an event in the Oval Office, Trump was asked to explain his statement.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause they\u2019re fake news,\u201d he said. \u201cYou get so tired of reading and seeing fake news. When you look at CNN, it\u2019s just fake. That\u2019s why their ratings are no good. When you look at MS NOW \u2026 , it\u2019s fake news.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd when you look at Politico … the stories they wrote are fake. So there\u2019s a lot of news and there may be others to join them, and maybe they can get better,\u201d he said. \u201cBut our country has to have honest news.\u201d<\/p>\n The move follows the president\u2019s decision last year to bar Associated Press reporters from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other events in retaliation for the news outlet\u2019s decision not to follow his lead in changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico, which lies partially in Mexican and other waters. The AP said<\/a> that it would note when appropriate that Trump had ordered it renamed the \u201cGulf of America.\u201d<\/p>\n The AP filed suit<\/a> and the case is ongoing. Since returning to office, Trump has pursued other legal action against a variety of different outlets, including The New York Times,<\/a> The Wall Street Journal and the BBC.<\/a> His administration is also involved in a long-simmering confrontation involving ABC over renewal of its broadcast licenses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n