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https://www.cnn.com/newsletters/reliable-sources-09-24-26-143202?utm_source=cnn_Reliable+Sources&utm_medium=email

cnn.com · last updated September 24, 2026 – 1:04 PM

<div> Hey, good morning. As you know, Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the White House to temporarily restore press access this morning, but the Trump administration has not complied. This situation is developing quickly, so I recommend checking out CNN’s television coverage and the <a href="http://CNN.com">CNN.com live story</a>. Here’s the latest as of noon Eastern… President Trump is hosting Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a state visit this morning. Ordinarily, this would receive wall-to-wall live TV coverage. But right now, no network cameras are showing the summit because CNN, MS NOW and Politico still aren’t allowed on the White House grounds. ABC would normally be on TV pool duty today. An ABC crew, along with others, lined up for Xi’s arrival earlier this morning. But the news crews held back and refused to cover the event due to the president’s undemocratic conduct. It is nothing short of astonishing. Right now, as CNN’s chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins pointed out to me, “the Chinese communist state media is allowed onto the White House grounds… but we are not.” My sources indicate that this “standoff,” as one described it, between the press corps and the president will continue until the ban is lifted. White House correspondents who are allowed on the grounds are still observing and reporting on the summit. But the president’s efforts to punish news outlets have deprived him of something he usually relishes: Roadblock coverage as he flatters a foreign leader and puts on a show. “This is embarrassing for the United States, especially when we are meeting with the leader of a communist country,” Axios media correspondent Sara Fischer told Wolf Blitzer this morning. “We are supposed to be representing democracy and freedom of the press.” Instead, this episode shows how Trump seeks to crack down on the free press in ways that many historians and scholars deem authoritarian. This headline <a href="https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-d… this column</a> by The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley is nothing if not stark: “Trump’s media ban shows steady slide of his regime into outright dictatorship.” I would describe it as yet another example of democratic backsliding, reaffirming that the American press is in a fight to protect its fundamental rights. Some news outlets are alerting their audiences to the unusual situation. “For now, we are not showing photos or videos that would normally be covered by the TV pool, in solidarity with colleagues who have been denied access,” CNBC’s Megan Cassella told viewers. Reuters picked up the government-run live stream of the state visit earlier this morning, raising eyebrows inside some newsrooms. (One person sent me a rat emoji.) I have reached out to Reuters for comment. The Associated Press, on the other hand, pointedly did not distribute the government-run signal to its subscribers. Major news outlets also basically ignored the Trump-Xi arrival ceremony as it happened last night. The NYT’s Michael Grynbaum wrote about that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/business/media/tv-networks-xi-arriva…;. This morning, some networks relied on still photos of the ceremony, instead of video clips, to cover the news. Judge Timothy Kelly’s order requiring the Trump administration to restore access came down around 1 a.m. Eastern. On CNN overnight, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/24/us/video/judge-lifts-white-house-access-… called it</a> an important victory for First Amendment freedoms, even though the ruling rests on Fifth Amendment due process rights. The Trump ban, Kelly ruled, was done without “constitutionally adequate due process.” (That’s the same basis on which Kelly dismissed Trump’s efforts to ban Jim Acosta in 2018.) The counsel for the three banned news outlets, Ted Boutrous, told me via text, “This is a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law. We greatly appreciate the court’s swift action.” By the way, Wednesday was Boutrous’s birthday. Happy belated, Ted. Reporters from the three outlets, like CNN’s Betsy Klein, tried to return to work this morning, but were turned away repeatedly. (One CNN producer was able to enter, and it was not clear why.) Later in the morning, around 11:20 a.m., MS NOW’s Laura Barrón-López tried to enter the White House grounds and was told she could not. “We don’t know if this is a lag time… for the computer system to get updated,” anchor Peter Alexander said, “or if this is a deliberate action.” He noted that an MS NOW producer whose badge had not been previously confiscated was allowed to enter. So, this is obviously a very fluid situation. Our live story coverage <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/24/politics/live-news/white-house-press-ban…; that “the White House has provided no details” as to why some of the journalists have not been admitted. CNN, MS NOW and Politico have requested an emergency hearing, and Judge Kelly has given the DOJ until 12:30 p.m. Eastern to respond to the request. We will continue to have live updates on air and online. “Court orders are not optional,” FIRE’s chief supervising attorney Conor Fitzpatrick said. “Refusing to abide by Judge Kelly’s clear order would be a dangerous escalation and an affront to the rule of law.” Last night there was an important ruling out of Iowa: District Judge Scott Beattie tossed out Trump’s lawsuit against pollster J. Ann Selzer, her polling company, the Des Moines Register and USA Today Co. after finding that the “Iowa Poll and its reporting are fully protected political speech.” And so, as FIRE lawyer Adam Steinbaugh tweeted, “Between the press ban and Selzer/Des Moines Register, the leader of the free world lost in two separate legal cases over his efforts to suppress ‘fake news.’ In the span of eight hours.” A rep for Trump’s legal team said the president plans to appeal. As Liam Reilly and I pointed out yesterday, the ruling is another setback for Trump’s broader campaign against the media. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/23/media/trump-j-ann-selzer-des-moines-regi…’s our full story…</a> At 2 p.m. Eastern, Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín will host a Zoom hearing on the state AGs’ settlement with Paramount. The hearing will give Martínez-Olguín a chance to “address certain outstanding questions regarding the factual and legal underpinnings” of the deal, as well as how it will be implemented, according to a court filing. This type of hearing “is not uncommon in this process,”<a href="https://variety.com/2026/film/news/judge-paramount-state-antitust-case-…; California AG Rob Bonta’s office told</a> Variety’s Todd Spangler. We’ll report on what comes out of it. Meanwhile, the Block the Merger Coalition said it filed <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73606877/248/the-state-of-californ… emergency motion</a> this morning asking Martínez-Olguín “to grant interested parties the opportunity to formally oppose the weak and unenforceable” settlement. It’s a last-ditch effort by orgs including the Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Future Film Coalition to keep the opposition alive… >> Yesterday CNN’s Jake Tapper grilled Bonta about settling the antitrust lawsuit, and asked whether CNN will be able to report the news “fairly, independently, without any political pressure.” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/23/business/video/rob-bonta-paramount-warne… the full interview here</a>. >> The WSJ’s <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/media/l-a-comes-to-grips-with-a-studio-mer…; on the deal: “L.A. Comes to Grips With a Studio Merger Many Didn’t Want.” Paramount executives “have discussed asking Elon Musk to become part of a syndicate of equity investors” in the newly merged Paramount–WBD, Semafor’s Rohan Goswami <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/09/23/2026/paramount-weighs-tapping-mus…; yesterday, based on sources familiar. “The possibility of him having even partial ownership in CNN and CBS would likely raise alarm bells in Washington, even though it is unlikely Musk would have formal input over the company’s operations,” he added. This morning Paramount announced it’s “launching a syndication to raise $7.5 billion through a proposed senior secured incremental tranche of term ‘B’ loans,” the aforementioned Todd Spangler <a href="https://variety.com/2026/film/news/paramount-7-5-billion-more-debt-warn…;. “In total, Paramount said it now intends to raise approximately $44.4 billion of additional secured debt, in addition to previously announced financings,” Spangler wrote. The announcement made no mention of Musk or any other investor. Liam Reilly writes: Puck has signed a deal making RedBird Capital its lead investor at a roughly $250 million valuation, CEO Sarah Personette and editor-in-chief Jon Kelly told staffers in a memo this morning. The deal is expected to close in a month, subject to regulatory approval. The investment “is about accelerating our strategy, not changing it,” they wrote. “It does not change our editorial independence, our differentiated business model, or the things that make Puck, Puck.” Employees with vested stock or options will get a “combination of liquidity and continued ownership in the company,” they added, with “a new equity incentive plan” in the works… A striking new Wall Street Journal analysis finds that “conservative creators appear to be losing interest in the president.” Journal reporters Neil Mehta, Brian Whitton and Sabrina Rodriguez fed nearly 70,000 hours of right-wing podcasts into an in-house AI tool that analyzes social-media trends — very cool, where can we get one? 😉— and found that “mentions of Trump’s name per hour on conservative podcasts have fallen nearly 70% from their peak in the run-up to the 2024 election.” Instead of Trump, the analysis shows, MAGA podcasters have turned their focus to key Democratic candidates like James Talarico and hot-button topics like the Lindsay Clancy trial. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/maga-podcasters-are-tuning-out-t… the full story here via gift link</a>. >> On a related note: <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/analysis/fox-news-is-talking-about-trump-a-lot… Mediaite story</a> last Friday found Fox News mentions of Trump have dropped by almost 30% since the spring. The NYT’s Brooks Barnes obtained a copy of Bob Chapek’s tell-all, “Behind the Castle Walls,” due out next week. In the book, Barnes writes, the former Disney CEO “rejects any personal responsibility for his ouster” and “places all blame on a ‘relentless’ sabotage campaign by the man who handpicked him for the job, his predecessor and eventual successor,” ex-ex-CEO Bob Iger. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/business/media/disney-bob-chapek-bob…’s a gift link</a>. Florida AG James Uthmeier “filed a shareholder lawsuit against The New York Times Company, claiming that the board of directors’ lack of oversight of the paper’s editorial practices is hurting state pension holders who have stock in the company,” the NYT’s Katie Robertson and David Ovalle <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/business/media/florida-new-york-time…;. At a news conference, Uthmeier accused the Times of anti-Israel bias in its coverage of the Israel–Hamas war. The lawsuit demands access to internal NYT documents to investigate whether the board allowed the paper’s standards to be “weaponized within the company to serve the personal agendas of unchecked editors.” Times spokesman Charlie Stadtlander said the paper will defend itself vigorously and said the suit “is a transparent attempt to exert agenda-driven pressure against an independent media organization, level false allegations of bias and chill journalism protected by the First Amendment…” >> Harvey Weinstein “was sentenced in Manhattan to 15 years in prison Wednesday for a felony sex crime in another #MeToo reckoning,” Michael Sisak and John Seewer report. (<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvey-weinstein-mimi-haley-sentencing-new-y…;) >> Barry Diller “is withdrawing his bid for MGM Resorts after months of discussions with the company,” Jessica Toonkel reports. (<a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/hospitality/barry-diller-withdraws-bid-for…;) >> “Cineplex has put itself up for sale while unveiling former Landmark Cinemas head Bill Walker as its new CEO,” Etan Vlessing writes. (<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/cineplex-for-s…;) >> The Paramount-owned Pluto TV is revamping its brand with a “new ad blitz, nostalgic slate,” and tech upgrades, Felix Gillette reports. (<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-23/pluto-tv-revamps-bra…;) >> “Disney+ and Hulu now cost more than $20 a month without ads,” Liam Reilly reports. (<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/23/media/disney-plus-hulu-price-increase-st…;) “Lawmakers in both parties are expected to introduce legislation to establish a federal film & TV tax incentive” as soon as today, Deadline’s Ted Johnson <a href="https://deadline.com/2026/09/federal-film-incentive-congress-legislatio…;. The legislation “has been anticipated since President Donald Trump announced his support for such an incentive as a way to lure productions back from other countries,” but “given that the House recessed last week, and the Senate is expected to soon, the earliest legislation could be passed is after the midterms, during Congress’ ‘lame duck’ session,” Johnson explains… Meta executives “laid out the company’s vision for AI” yesterday, “introducing a blitz of new products with its Muse AI agent baked in,” including “lightweight virtual reality glasses, Ray-Ban glasses without cameras and a tiny puck the size of a keychain for communicating with Meta’s AI helper,” CNN’s Lisa Eadicicco <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/24/tech/meta-muse-ai-glasses-connect">repor…;. This edition of Reliable Sources was edited by Andrew Kirell and produced with Liam Reilly. <a href="mailto:reliabletips@cnn.com">Email us your feedback and tips here</a>. </div>

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