On Tuesday, CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront victim complex led to a lecture on President Trump’s recent media ban of CNN, Politico, and MS NOW to White House grounds. Instead of airing news on Trump for the American people, however, Burnett publicly aired out how CNN edits their newscast depending how they see fit.
The image of innocence that CNN seemed adamant to protect was evident in Burnett’s opening monologue, which showed Trump’s response to CNN’s presence at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, “You should not be here covering me. You said you weren't going to cover me. You shouldn't be covering me.”
Burnett ensured CNN was a trusted news network, and even promised, “CNN's coverage of Trump, of course, is going to continue regardless of any restrictions that he imposes.” She noted restrictions, “are impacting Trump because he's on the world stage and yet there is no media pool covering his every move.” She also claimed Trump is hurting because of The New York Times’s decision not to immediately publish photos:
The New York Times now announcing it's still not publishing or distributing images captured by the White House pool, which is a blow to Trump because he covets the coverage, whether it's on TV or on the front page of newspapers and magazines. I mean, gosh, going back 20 years, those would be all over his office. And now he's been cut off, which may be why he decided to launch his own station, and it is called TrumpTV. And you're not being punked. This is real. It's called TrumpTV. It's 24 hours of Trump, reairing what the White House calls major remarks and must-see highlights. So, after 24 hours. Well, about 1,000 people are watching at the last check. Drudge posted the headline, “White House humiliated as TrumpTV flops in ratings disaster.
She then compared the White House’s attempt to go around the media to North Korea:
And maybe there's a reason for that, the actual content. TrumpTV has so far aired Trump's inauguration, his new helipad dedication, which, by the way, because there was no pool and no audio, right? His speech to the UN. It's a weird sort of form of state TV. I mean, right now, with everything going on, people want to rewatch his inauguration? It's kind of reminiscent of what you would find in North Korea. That's called KCTV, and it's dedicated every airing to pretty much every public appearance by their leader, whether it's an amusement park or military facility, and they repeatedly air Kim Jong-un's remarks again and again. It sounds familiar.
She also attempted to flame former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on the Hang Out with Sean Hannity podcast in her plea to, “just let your audience decide how they feel about this,” in regard to networks failing to broadcast Trump’s live remarks. Burnett objected, “For the President of the United States to address the nation and for networks to make the editorial decision themselves that they will not cover it for their audience, that's scary stuff.” In an attempt to procure CNN’s journalism standards, Burnett failed to fault Leavitt’s claim by ensuring that networks have the right to show whatever they want to their audience:
…the administration doesn't get to decide what news organizations air. That's not the way it's ever worked. And it's not a given that a Trump speech gets coverage. That, again, that sort of a situation would be state television. And when it comes to Trump, his justification for the ban is that, quote, "Fake news is a threat to our national security."
Instead of a calculated argument against Leavitt, Burnett inadvertently showed the media bias liberal networks like CNN strive for, and how they edit national news for their audience.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN Erin Burnett OutFront
September 22, 2026
07:00:46 p.m. Eastern(...)
ERIN BURNETT: Trump's Justice Department, at any moment, expected to file its response to the lawsuit by CNN, Politico and MS NOW after the President banned the three news organizations from the White House. A ban that Trump apparently thinks should also include the United Nations.
[CUT TO VIDEO]
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's an honor to be here. I'm surprised that CNN is here covering me.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The United Nations allowed us in, sir.
TRUMP: You should not be here covering me. You said you weren't going to cover me. You shouldn't be covering me.
[END OF VIDEO]
BURNETT: CNN's coverage of Trump, of course, is going to continue regardless of any restrictions that he imposes. Restrictions that are impacting Trump because he's on the world stage and yet there is no media pool covering his every move.
The New York Times now announcing it's still not publishing or distributing images captured by the White House pool, which is a blow to Trump because he covets the coverage, whether it's on TV or on the front page of newspapers and magazines. I mean, gosh, going back 20 years, those would be all over his office. And now he's been cut off, which may be why he decided to launch his own station, and it is called Trump TV.
And you're not being punked. This is real. It's called Trump TV. It's 24 hours of Trump, reairing what the White House calls major remarks and must-see highlights. So, after 24 hours. Well, about 1,000 people are watching at the last check. Drudge posted the headline, “White House humiliated as Trump TV flops in ratings disaster.”
And maybe there's a reason for that, the actual content. Trump TV has so far aired Trump's inauguration, his new helipad dedication, which, by the way, because there was no pool and no audio, right? His speech to the UN.
It's a weird sort of form of state TV. I mean, right now, with everything going on, people want to rewatch his inauguration? It's kind of reminiscent of what you would find in North Korea. That's called KCTV, and it's dedicated every airing to pretty much every public appearance by their leader, whether it's an amusement park or military facility, and they repeatedly air Kim Jong-un's remarks again and again. It sounds familiar.
And Trump's former press secretary is now speaking out in a new interview. She cannot believe news outlets aren't airing every speech by Trump.
[CUT TO VIDEO]
KAROLINE LEAVITT, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I've gotten on the phone with the leadership of all those stations and said, why are you not taking the President's remarks live? Like, just let your audience decide how they feel about this. [Jump Cut] For the President of the United States to address the nation and for networks to make the editorial decision themselves that they will not cover it for their audience, that's scary stuff.
[END OF VIDEO]
BURNETT: Well, of course, the administration doesn't get to decide what news organizations air. That's not the way it's ever worked. And it's not a given that a Trump speech gets coverage. That, again, that sort of a situation would be state television. And when it comes to Trump, his justification for the ban is that, quote, "Fake news is a threat to our national security."
And then he goes on to say, “when they make statements about the war, when they make false statements, false malicious, and they don't have sources, but they say they do, it's very dangerous for our country and I won't stand for it." Of course, he's talking about the Iran War there.
So, when it comes to that, right, we're about seven months into a war where we have reported facts all the way along because the facts on this war are important for the American public and American lawmakers to know. When it decides, right, this country decides, does this country back this war? Does this country want to be at war? They need information.
And the administration has repeatedly, repeatedly tried to hide this information. Just, for example, they've underreported how many American assets have been hit or destroyed by Iran. At one point, they undercounted the number of Americans killed while serving in Trump's Iran war. To not even be honest about the number of people killed in the war.
It was back in July that the Pentagon removed the last four Americans killed during Trump's war from the Operation Epic Fury tally, listing them in a new category called Overseas Operations, which could be anything, anywhere. And Americans do deserve to know the truth about the war.
And reporting that is not a threat to America's national security. It's required to preserve it.
(...)
