Piers Morgan calls Trump's announced exclusion of CNN, MS NOW and Politico 'a very bad decision' and 'unconstitutional'
Piers MorganBritish broadcaster and commentator, in a post on his X account addressed to President Trump
In an X post addressed to President Trump on the evening of September 18, Piers Morgan said the announced exclusion of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House is a very bad decision and unconstitutional. He wrote that it is the media's job to hold the president and his administration to rigorous account rather than give endless praise.
“This is a very bad decision, President @realDonaldTrump - it's not the media's job to give you endless praise. It's their job to hold you and your administration to rigorous account. Banning them is a suppression of free speech and unconstitutional.”
Original post
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Should President Trump bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House over their coverage?
On Friday, September 18, 2026, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that, "effective immediately, I am banning" CNN, MS NOW and Politico "from the White House as a result of their constant 'reporting' FAKE NEWS!" About an hour later, in the Oval Office, he said no particular story prompted the decision, that he does not want the outlets "in my office," and that "somebody has a right to keep them away" if outlets write false stories. The three outlets and press-freedom groups oppose the exclusion, citing constitutional protection for the press, and the White House Correspondents' Association said it "stands in defense of our colleagues at CNN, MSNOW, and POLITICO." On Saturday, September 19, MS NOW, CNN and Politico said their White House reporters were refused entry and had press passes confiscated; the White House referred questions to Trump's earlier remarks. The dispute is over whether President Trump should exclude named news organizations from White House access over what they report.
Source and context
Original post
About this source
Posted by @piersmorgan on 2026-09-18 at 23:47:49 UTC. It is a standalone post: not a reply, quote-post or long-form note, and it shows no edit marker. The attached photo is a screenshot of Trump's Truth Social post stamped 9/18/26, 3:04 PM, which is what 'them' refers to. The quotation is the whole post text minus the trailing t.co link to that image; the source uses typographic apostrophes, rendered straight here. We could not save an archived copy of this post.
Reporting
About this source
Used only for the text after the quotation. Published 2026-09-19 13:12 UTC, updated 13:13 UTC. It reports that MS NOW said its journalists were denied access to the White House grounds and that the White House referred NBC News to Trump's previous comments. AP's version of the story (carried by WPXI) reports the same MS NOW account and adds that it was unclear whether CNN journalists were also blocked. The article has been revised since first publication; the title given is the current headline.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
At 3:04 PM EDT on September 18, President Trump posted on Truth Social that, effective immediately, he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House over their coverage. Morgan's post, published at 7:47 PM EDT, is addressed to Trump by his X handle and attaches an image of that Truth Social post.
After the quotation
On the morning of Saturday, September 19, MS NOW said its journalists were denied access to the White House grounds, and NBC News reported that the White House declined further comment and referred it to Trump's earlier remarks.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Morgan expresses rejection: he calls the announcement a very bad decision, says the media's job is to hold the administration to rigorous account, and says banning them is a suppression of free speech and unconstitutional, with a screenshot of the announcement attached to the post. The closest competing label is “Challenged the characterization”, because part of the post is about what the media's job is; that loses because the post goes on to criticize the exclusion itself as unconstitutional rather than only disputing a description of it.
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- Piers Morgan calls Trump's announced exclusion of CNN, MS NOW and Politico 'a very bad decision' and 'unconstitutional'
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The Dispute Index. "Piers Morgan calls Trump's announced exclusion of CNN, MS NOW and Politico 'a very bad decision' and 'unconstitutional'". First published: 2026-09-19. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1130-in-an-x-post-addressed-to-president-trump