Obama ‘not surprised’ by Trump’s media ban, calls issue of press freedom ‘foundational’

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Barack Obama said he’s “not surprised” by President Donald Trump’s decision to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, arguing that the issue should not be “partisan.”

“You do not have, as far as I can tell, any substantial group of Republicans who are standing up and saying, ‘No, you can’t do that, because we don’t want, if there’s a Democratic president, to be banning Fox News,’ or whatever other outlets that are going off on Democratic presidents,” the former president said Monday night at an event at Salem State University in Massachusetts.

“You can’t do that and say that you are still living in a democracy,” Obama told historian Doris Kearns Goodwin during the event, describing the situation as “the president of the United States can’t take some criticism.”

“This should not be a partisan issue. I want to underscore this. This should be something that rises above partisanship,” Obama went on to say.

Trump announced the move to ban the organizations on social media on Friday saying it was “a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” He later described it as “a very simple ban.”

“I don’t want them in my office. I don’t want them here. I would say the ban would go as far as you can,” Trump said from the Oval Office.

Obama said the issue of a free press was “foundational” at the event in Massachusetts.

“The free press, the idea that the government cannot discriminate against, or pick on, or bully, or exclude somebody because they don’t like the criticism that’s being leveled at them, that is a foundational issue,” the former president said.

“And so, I am not surprised that the current president wants to ban newscasts that are critical of him, because he’s that guy,” Obama added.

Obama pointed out that when he was president, he pushed for more press freedom in countries that repress the media.

The three media outlets subject to the ban have sued the Trump administration to restore their access.

Obama also applauded the larger solidarity among media organizations. Major television networks, for instance, declined to replace CNN’s White House pool crew after the Trump administration barred the network from fulfilling its assigned duties on Monday.

“This one’s actually in the Constitution. It’s pretty straightforward, right? Free speech, there’s a reason why it’s the First Amendment,” Obama said on Monday.

“The issue is not the fact that (the ban) ultimately will be overturned. The issue is the brazenness with which any president could act like this, and the people in his or her own party not say, ‘No, you cannot do that. That’s not acceptable.’ That lack of guardrails is what I’m most concerned about.”

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巴拉克·奥巴马表示，他对唐纳德·特朗普总统禁止 CNN、MS NOW 和 Politico 进入白宫的决定“并不感到惊讶”，并认为这个问题不应该“带有党派色彩”。

“据我所知，没有任何相当数量的共和党人站出来说，‘不，你们不能这样做，因为我们不希望，如果民主党总统上台，就禁止福克斯新闻’，或者禁止其他任何抨击民主党总统的媒体，”这位前总统周一晚上在马萨诸塞州塞勒姆州立大学的一个活动上说道。

“你不能一边这样做，一边还说你生活在一个民主国家，”奥巴马在活动中对历史学家多丽丝·卡恩斯·古德温说道，并将这种情况描述为“美国总统无法接受一些批评”。

“这不应该是一个党派问题。我想强调这一点。这件事应该超越党派之争，”奥巴马继续说道。

特朗普周五宣布禁止这些组织在社交媒体上使用账号，称这是“他们不断‘报道’假新闻的结果！”他后来将其描述为“一个非常简单的禁令”。

“我不想让他们进我的办公室。我不想让他们来这里。我想说，禁令应该尽可能地严格执行。”特朗普在椭圆形办公室说道。

奥巴马在马萨诸塞州的活动中表示，新闻自由问题是“根本性的”。

这位前总统说：“新闻自由，政府不能因为不喜欢针对某人的批评就歧视、欺凌或排斥他人，这是一个根本性的问题。”

“所以，现任总统想要禁止批评他的新闻节目，我一点也不感到惊讶，因为他就是那样的人，”奥巴马补充道。

奥巴马指出，在他担任总统期间，他曾推动在压制媒体的国家扩大新闻自由。

被禁的三家媒体已起诉特朗普政府，要求恢复其媒体访问权限。

奥巴马还赞扬了媒体机构之间展现出的团结。例如，在特朗普政府周一禁止CNN履行其白宫随行记者职责后，各大电视网拒绝更换CNN的白宫随行记者。

“这条其实写在宪法里了。很简单，对吧？言论自由，它之所以被列入第一修正案是有原因的，”奥巴马周一说道。

“问题不在于（禁令）最终是否会被推翻，而在于任何一位总统都可以如此厚颜无耻地行事，而他/她自己党内的人却不会说：‘不，你不能这样做。这是不可接受的。’这种缺乏约束的局面才是我最担心的。”