Fox News, Bloomberg, Associated Press and 10 others come out in support of CNN lawsuit against Donald Trump

At least 13 media houses — The Associated Press, NBC News, First Look Media, Gannett, The New York Times, Politico, USA Today, Bloomberg, the Press Freedom Defense Fund, the National Press Club Journalism Institute_,_ and the EW Scripps Company — on Thursday came out in support of CNN’s lawsuit against the White House, and will jointly file a legal brief in support of CNN’s lawsuit against the White House, reports have said. [caption id=“attachment_5517761” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A White House staff member reaches for the microphone held by CNN’s Jim Acosta as he questions Donald Trump. Reuters[/caption] Fox News, which has often been praised by US president Donald Trump, said the revoking of the CNN reporter’s press pass raises concerns over freedom of the press. “Fox News supports CNN in its legal effort to regain its White House reporter’s press credential,” the news channel’s president Jay Wallace said in a statement. “We intend to file an amicus brief with the US District Court. Secret Service passes for working White House journalists should never be weaponised. While we don’t condone the growing antagonistic tone by both the president and the press at recent media avails, we do support a free press, access and open exchanges for the American people,” he said. CNN also quoted Fred Ryan, publisher and CEO of The Washington Post, as saying: “We support CNN in its effort to restore the press credentials of its White House reporter. It is a journalist’s role to ask hard questions, hold the powerful to account and provide readers with as much information as possible.” The Press Freedom Defense Fund also released a statement signed by its director James Risen and his deputy Kate Myers. The organisation condemned Trump’s “escalating attacks against journalists,” and said: “The White House’s recent retaliation against Acosta is a strategic assault on press freedoms, a threat to the US Constitution and an affront to America’s core values. BuzzFeed News said it will also join the other media organisations in supporting CNN against the president. CNN had filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump and several of his top aides , seeking the immediate restoration of the network’s correspondent Jim Acosta’s press pass to the White House which was suspended following an argument with the US president. The Donald Trump administration on Wednesday defended in court its decision to suspend the press pass of the _CNN_ reporter , arguing that no journalist has the First Amendment right to enter the White House. The argument between Acosta and Trump began when the journalist asked the president about the caravan of migrants heading from Latin America to the southern US border. When Acosta tried to follow up with another question, Trump said, “That’s enough!” and a female White House aide unsuccessfully tried to grab the microphone from Acosta. He appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold onto it. With inputs from AP