Piers Morgan calls Trump's announced exclusion of CNN, MS NOW and Politico 'a very bad decision' and 'unconstitutional'
British broadcaster and commentator, in a post on his X account addressed to President Trump
“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.”
Source and context
Original post
About this source
Read in full through api.fxtwitter.com and again through api.vxtwitter.com (identical text, author @piersmorgan, user id 216299334); creation time confirmed by decoding the status ID (2026-09-18 23:47:49 UTC). It is a standalone post: not a reply, quote-post or long-form note, and the API shows no edit marker. The attached photo was opened and 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. No archivedURL: Wayback does not capture x.com.
Reporting
About this source
Used only for the contextAfter sentence. Page opened directly (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.
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
Case context: Should President Trump bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House over their coverage?
The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.
Why this label?
The case's fixed reference point is President Trump's announcement, by Truth Social post at 3:04 PM EDT on Friday 2026-09-18 and reaffirmed on camera in the Oval Office that afternoon, that CNN, MS NOW and Politico are banned from the White House because of their coverage. Relative to that act, 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 challenges_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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Should President Trump bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House over their coverage?
Explore the case context, sources and public responses.
More from this case
Read the full caseMS NOW
“MS 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.”Read statement
The White House
“The White House declined to comment further Saturday, referring NBC News to Trump’s previous comments.”Read statement
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
“When the White House opens its doors to the press, it must comply with the First Amendment. The president is as free as any other person to criticize media coverage. But he can’t ban outlets from the White House just because he doesn’t like their reporting or commentary.”Read statement