On November 8, 2018, President Donald Trump had CNN’s reporter, Jim Acosta, permanent press pass pulled. This is the first action that President Trump has taken against reporters for questioning his tactics or daily press briefings.

Trump has repeatedly called CNN “Fake News”, “Enemy of the People”, “Too much hate and inaccurately reported stories – too predictable!”, and other things of such hatred.

Trumps want to control the news that’s reported of him has taken a new step with this instance, as well as publicly posting propaganda to degrade the reputation of the reporter.

In the broadcast of the press conference where Acosta continued to pressure Trump for answers on the migrant caravan coming from Central America, and his reaction to it, a White staffer comes to remove the microphone from Acosta’s hand while he’s asking a question.

In the broadcast, it’s clearly seen that Acosta shrugs the staffer off and continues to ask the question, whereas in the video posted on the White House’s twitter page, it’s clearly seen that he uses force to keep the staffer away from him.

This video, posted on the twitter page, was analyzed by members of the Washington Post, and concluded by them that it had been altered to make Accosta look as if he used force to remove the staff members arm from his own.

Since Acosta’s press pass has been taken away, CNN sued Trump for oppression of the press, and the won the case. Accostas press pass was given back, and he returned to daily press briefings following the return of his pass. This may be an isolated incident with the press and President Trump, but it shows just how much Trump doesn’t like hard questions.

This situation makes me wonder if Trump is really meant to be in the public domain if he can’t deal with hard questions, especially if those questions are directly related to his policy, or his administration.

The choice by the current administration to have a real restriction on press coverage is concerning. As I have mentioned in other articles I’ve written, I plan to pursue journalism in the professional realm, and moments like this strike fear into the journalistic community, as well as me.

I don’t agree with the White House and Trump’s decisions to remove reporters, and censor the media that they report. It all is just a step towards the removal of the first amendment, specifically the freedom of press.