CNN could sue Trump over suspended press pass

The tension between President Donald Trump and CNN is likely to turn into a full-blown lawsuit. It has been reported that Jim Acosta, a CNN White House correspondent, is preparing lawsuit against the Trump administration, after being denied entry into the White House for making physical contact with a female intern who tried to take a microphone from him while he was making aggressive inquiries to Mr. Trump during a press conference on last Wednesday.

“It’s my understanding that CNN and Acosta have sued,” said Sam Donaldson, a former ABC White House Correspondent. “There will be a court hearing on Tuesday on this very matter that we’ve been discussing.” CNN denied such speculation in its statement, however, arguing that no decision has been made yet, and that there has been no response from the While House.

About the White House’s decision to pull Acosta’s press pass, some call it an “excessive intervention by political power,” and others say it is a “due punishment for CNN’s losing neutrality.” Fox News, a staunch ally of President Trump, accused the CNN White House correspondent of trying to make his name by hurting the president. In fact, CNN is running many programs designed to criticize Mr. Trump.

CNN ratings are falling lately. Fox News was the most watched news channel for the 28th consecutive month as of last month (among cable channels), and its presence was overwhelming in the Nielson Media Research survey from last month, having an average 28 million viewers tuned in during prime time per day. MSNBC followed with 15.8 million daily viewers, and CNN lagged far behind with 930,000.


Jeong-Hun Park sunshade@donga.com