Global News Podcast - US media outlets take legal action after White House ban

Episode Date: September 22, 2026

Several US news organisations have temporarily stopped their pooled coverage of White House events, after Donald Trump revoked access for CNN, Politico and MS NOW. The president accused them of writing "lies" about him. Donald Trump has launched his own TV channel in response. Also, the UK's prime minister Andy Burnham has said Britain will provide "defensive air-to-air refuelling" support for Saudi Arabia. World leaders are gathering in New York City for the UN General Assembly. Fifa president Gianni Infantino has proposed an external review of how world football's governing body operates, and says he is open to reform. A Rwandan man has become the first person charged in the UK with offences relating to the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Lithuania's prime minister has told the BBC his country has made evacuation plans in the face of threats from Russia. The media giant Paramount Skydance has reached a settlement with a California-led group of US states. Darts world champion Luke Littler has threatened to stop playing in the Netherlands after being booed and whistled at in Amsterdam.The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail] Photo: MS NOW journalist Vaughn Hillyard outside the White House after US President Trump barred reporters from MS NOW, CNN and Politico from entering the White House press room Credit: EPA/Shuttershock

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join me, Colin Morgan, with new episodes twice a week. Find the Haunted Library wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson and in the early hours of Tuesday, September the 22nd, these are our main stories. America's major TV networks jointly suspend their pooled coverage of events at the White House in response to Donald Trump's banning of three major outlets. flee Yemen as the war between the Iranian-backed huthies and Saudi-backed forces escalates, we have a special report.

And there's a new attempt by FIFA President Gianni Infantino to win back support for his leadership of global football. Also in this podcast, in case we're attacked, we will not surrender. There are plans prepared for evacuation. The Lithuanian Prime Minister tells the BBC local people feel they're under constant. threat of a Russian attack, and the row involving teenage dart sensation Luke Littler and booing crowds. We begin in the United States, where television networks have been staging an extraordinary collective revolt by effectively boycotting their shared coverage of President

Donald Trump. They're acting in protest at his decision to ban three news outlets from the White House. Those outlets, CNN, MS Now and Politico, filed a lawsuit against the administration. Mr. Trump, who's in New York ahead of his speech at the UN General Assembly, spoke about the boycott after he met the city's mayor, Surin Mamdani. It's interesting because they said they were going to boycott me, but they never boycott me. So I wasn't very worried about that.

Look at all that press. And I think I have an obligation not to let fake news. They're very bad for the country, very bad for national security, so I have that obligation. so we'll see how it works there. By Monday evening, the White House had launched a streaming channel in response, saying Trump TV would stream top videos, major remarks, and must see highlights 24-7.

On Monday, it was CNN's turn to film White House proceedings, but because of the row, major networks kept their cameras away as President Trump opened his new helipad. Perhaps not what Donald Trump intended to happen. I got more from our North Carolina. America editor Sarah Smith. No, I don't think this is what he intended at all, because we know how much Donald

Trump relishes being on TV and dominating the media even more than your average politician does. And yet, we've got a situation where there is no network television coverage of him at all, so no pictures of him boarding Marine One, the helicopter as he was leaving

the White House, no images of him arriving in New York or any of the events he's taking part in. And not only is there not any moving footage that aren't even any still photographs because all the photographers at the White House have also agreed not to put out their images in protest at the ban. Because it was on Friday that he picked three media outlets, CNN, MS Now and Politico, and said they were no longer going to be allowed into the White House to cover events there because he said that they put out

fake news and lies. And it just so happened that it was CNN who were supposed to be the pool or shared TV crew covering the president. And the White House took them off, that bull rota. So the other four major television networks all said they were going to refuse to put a replacement crew in in protest at this ban on CNN. Extraordinary level of solidarity from the other TV networks, including Fox News, is this going to continue, though, because it's fine making the gesture, but in the long term, they're not going to have coverage of things.

they want, are they? It's definitely going to continue any day that CNN was down to be the shared pool TV crew. It's less clear what's going to happen on the days when the other major networks who have not been banned were supposed to be providing the coverage of Donald Trump. But what is obvious is that the media are pretty united in their condemnation of this ban. The three prohibited outlets have also launched a legal challenge that will be heard later this week. They say that banning them from the White House is not only an assault on the freedom of the press, which is constitutionally protected in the United States, but it also interferes with the public's right to independent journalism free from government interference.

And how much does President Trump need this coverage? I understand he's already looking at ways of creating essentially his own pool coverage of his movements. Well, there was an attempt at that today. So on the White House YouTube channel and on the news, White House mobile phone app. They put out some pictures of a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Donald Trump was opening the new helipad that he's had installed on the south lawn of the White House. But it was utterly inaudible. You could barely see him. The camera seemed to be kept very, very far away from him. It was an example of the way in which actually you need professional

television crews to provide decent coverage. But also, all the major networks, including the BBC, have said they're not going to air any of that footage supplied by the White House. And people are filming things on their mobile phone or some of the other TV outlets were to provide some pictures. The major networks will not be using them on any day. We've withdrawn network TV coverage. Of course, the president has other ways of reaching people. He can boast on truth social. He can put out a video on social media channels. You know, think even if he does have other ways of getting his message out, he will miss being on television. Our North America editor, Sarah Smith.

Presidents, prime ministers and the world's top diplomats are coming together in New York for the UN General Assembly. But with the backdrop of wars in the Middle East and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, there will no doubt be some tense exchanges. Iran is reportedly sending a delegation to the Assembly, but there's no word on whether talks with President Trump are scheduled to take place on the sidelines. Our State Department correspondent Tom Bateman said there's a lot of ground to cover. One of the things we've done here is to check out the escalators. They are working inside because remember it was last year that President Trump,

when he came to make his big speech here, got stuck on the escalator on the way in with the First Lady Melania Trump, and used that really in his view as a symbol of what he saw as the UN's dysfunction. then proceeded a year ago to rail against countries here and the organisation itself, particularly over the issue of immigration, saying that countries were, in his words, going to hell. Now, will we get a similar kind of sense from Mr. Trump, probably, but also there's some really important diplomacy happening here.

Again, he will meet President Zelensky of Ukraine. He desperately needs some kind of resolution on the issue of both Russian, Ukraine, targeting each other's energy targets. That's causing further problems when it comes to diesel and the cost of that in the United States. Political problem for him, he will also meet golf leaders, as again he desperately needs some kind of resolution over oil exports via the Strait of Hormuz

and elsewhere in the Middle East. And then he'll have that meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham. A question about how much these behind-the-scenes meetings will actually even be seen because of his current huge escalating dispute with the media. in the United States. Our State Department correspondent Tom Bateman. We've reported recently on the rapid advance made by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen

to the country's Red Sea coast. It's marked an escalation in their war with Saudi-backed forces and placed the Houthis in a position to control the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping route. Now, the British Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, has said the UK will provide support to Saudi Arabia in response to attacks the country has faced from the Houthis. Mr Burnham said the UK would provide what he called defensive air-to-air refueling.

Here's our political correspondent, Chris Mason. It's understood this refueling support will begin in the coming days and will involve a single British aircraft, a Voyager, based out of RAF Akritiri in Cyprus. Government officials say the offer is time-limited and likely in the first instance the last, weeks. What is described as defensive support is seen as aiding Saudi Air Force jets, attempting to shoot down incoming Houthi missiles and drones. In recent days, Houthi militants in Yemen, so they have carried out attacks on the Saudi capital Riyadh, as well as energy sites on the country's Red Sea coast. Meanwhile, more than 3,000 Yemenis have fled across the Red Sea to

Djibouti to escape the fighting between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed forces, and many more are likely to follow their lead. The BBC's Frank Gardner visited a refugee camp in Obok, a small port town where officials are preparing for the arrival of up to 10,000 refugees. I'm inside a warehouse here at a place called Obok, which is on the Djiboutian, that's the African side of the Babol-Mandand Strait that separates Africa from the Arabian Peninsula. And this warehouse is full of families, hundreds of people here,

actually altogether more than 3,000 Yemenis. He's come across in boats in the last few days fleeing the fighting in Yemen. There's sand and tarpaulans on the floor, goats feeding amongst everybody, but people are at least getting food. They fled hungry and literally the clothes they are standing up in. And the thing that they're terrified of most are the airstrikes, the bombs that fall on their houses, on their children, on their families. One of those I met here is Qasim Ibrahim Abzi, a former fisherman, he's old and frail.

In fact, his ID card says he was born 100 years ago. I found him sitting on a tarpaulin, having arrived last Friday, and he was eager to talk. I asked him what brought him to this place. What led us to come here? It was the plain, the sound of the planes, whom? Sitting next to him is his wife Aisha Abdu-Qadr. She's apparently the same age, and yet, despite her ordeal, she hasn't given up on going back to Yemen and the life they had before.

We are willing to go back if there's peace, and we are praying to God that peace does return. All we need is peace, even for our children's future. They get safety first, then food, water, and an education. As you see, we just feel. with our clothes and left everything behind because there is no peace. Not all the refugees here in this camp are new arrivals. Just under 3,000 Yemenis were already here,

having fled when fighting first flared up between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed coalition in 2015. Mohamed Abel-Kharim has been here in this camp ever since. Most of the people here are in the worst condition, inside the tents here. I'm very touched. for these people, for my people, for their suffering. I want our voices to be heard by the NGOs and the Djibouti government, and I'm thankful to them for accepting us.

Muhammad breaks off, turning his face away. I can see he's choking back tears. This country, Yemen, was once called Arabia Felix by the Romans. Happy Arabia. Today, it's anything but. Frank Gardner in Djibouti. The FIFA president Gianni Infantino sparked an international outcry earlier this year

with his proposal to privatise the Football World Cup. Now he's following up on that by saying he's open to reforms at football's governing body. In a letter sent to all member associations, he suggested an external review of how FIFA makes its decisions and who should have a say. Our sports correspondent Ben Croucher has been telling me more. I think there's three interesting things to come out of this letter.

One, the confirmation if we really needed it, that the proposals to sell off stakes in major tournaments would not proceed. He insisted that FIFA's democratic processes and independence and sporting authority were never for sale. He added, I recognised without the full context, it had caused concern and created the impression that decisions had already been taken. They had not. A couple of other things that are particularly interesting. One, he's proposing to create an independent external review into a way that FIFA is run.

And perhaps the most crucial for football associations around the world is proposed direct consultation with the Confederations themselves, member associations, i.e. the different countries football associations and stakeholders in FIFA's decision-making processes. Now, this letter has been sent to all 211 member associations ahead of a FIFA council meeting. on October the 15th next month. He nearly lost his job over the last proposals that you just talked about there. Is this enough? Is he back in the fold? Has there been any response yet? So there's been no response just yet. The key response, I think, that we're all looking out for is the way that European Football's governing body UEFA response to this.

They were probably Infantino's most harsh critic over this. They united all of their members, essentially slamming the initial proposals and especially the way, that Infantino conducted himself. The important subtext to all of this is that Infantino is running for re-election as FIFA president next March. Now, this letter, it appears to be a slight softening of his stance. He's admitted to causing concern.

He says it was only a proposal. It wasn't set in stern. But given the level of animosity that there was for Infantino in the way he handled the initial proposals, it's going to be really interesting now to see how the Confederations line themselves up, especially given the fact that the deadline to nominate oneself for the FIFA presidency

doesn't come too far away in the middle of November. Would these proposals make real changes to the world of football or if he did get re-elected, would we be just back to business as usual? I think the general assumption around FIFA at the moment is what Infantino wants and Infantino gets. We saw the way that the World Cup was run and the difficulty that FIFA got into over their ticket. policies and how their pricing was structured and the amount of money that they were generating

and was that necessarily good for fans? Whereas actually by allowing the Confederations and the football associations to have a greater say, the idea is that those fans of those particular football associations and bear in mind that the English FAA and the Spanish FAA may have completely different priorities to say the Jamaican FAA or the New Zealand FAA or some of the much smaller FIFA nation. So by giving all of them a little bit of them a little bit of them a little bit more of a voice. The idea is that it should become a little bit more democratic. Whether that works in practice, only time will tell. Our sports correspondent, Ben Croucher. Still to come in this podcast. I want to be clear about something right up front. This settlement

is not a vote of support for this merger. It is not a blessing of the broader merger. Paramount Skydance finally cuts a deal to unlock its 110 billion dollar merger with Warner Brothers Discovery. Growing businesses deal with the same problem, too many tools, too much back and forth and not enough time. Odo helps bring it all together. It's an all-in-one business management platform, fully integrated from sales and accounting to inventory and marketing, so your team can spend less time chasing information and focus on growth. Whether you're in retail, manufacturing or service, O-Doo gives you one place to manage your business.

Visit Odu.com to book a demo. It's O'D-O-O-O-O.com. Welcome to the Haunted Library. Have you come in search of a tale? This podcast invites you to browse the shelves and find stories that will linger long after you've left this place. From Gothic masterpieces to Paupey Penny Dreadfuls, Join me, Colin Morgan, with new episodes twice a week.

Find the Haunted Library, wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News podcast. More than three decades after the Rwanda genocide, a doctor in Britain has become the first person to be charged in the UK in connection with the killing of around 800,000 ethnic tutzes and politically moderate Hutus. Vincent Brown is from the... the Rwandan capital Kigali, where he is alleged to have directed and incited people to murder members of the Tutsi ethnic group.

He was charged after a lengthy investigation by London's Metropolitan Police. Tom Simons has more. The 1994 killings in Rwanda lasted 100 days, during which Hutu extremists carried out a campaign of slaughter against Tutsis and other moderate Hutus. It followed a three-year civil war. The Metropolitan Police War Crimes team has been investigating since 2019 at the request of the government of Rwanda. It has focused on genocide in the Rigenge district of Kigali in April 1994. Dr Vincent Brown from Islington in North London,

formerly Dr Vincent, Virginia, has been charged with one offence of conduct ancillary to genocide and six offences of conduct ancillary to murder as a crime against humanity under international law. Senior police officers have previously stressed the UK should not be a safe haven for alleged war criminals. Investigators have been trained in international war crimes legislation and inquiries continue into other alleged genocide offences in Rwanda.

Tom Simon's reporting. European leaders are warning of the possibility that Russia might attack NATO territory with drones or missiles in the coming months. One country that's seen as a possible target is Lithuania. It borders Kalingrad region, the heavily militarised westernmost exclave of Russia, and just last week, NATO fighter pilots shot down a drone that entered its airspace. Now, the Lithuanian Prime Minister says his country has made evacuation plans in the face of military threats from Russia.

Ming Degas Sinkavuchis was speaking in a BBC interview. We're threatened, constantly threatened, not just by drones entering our airspace, but also there's attempts previously with meteorological balloons and smuggling cigarettes, but also a threat on our civil aviation. If a drone flies in and enters Lithuanian airspace, people in the area receive either,

yellow or red alarm to go to the shelter. So it's an alarming thing. You know, when you, in the middle of the night, you receive an alarm. That's not a good emotional situation. In case we're attacked, we will not surrender. There are plans prepared for evacuation. There will be groups of people handicapped, elderly people that will be a priority that will be needed to be assisted. And there will be roots that we're thinking, oh, because, of course, the evacuation starts from major cities. In the worst case, in the area, we have to think it over how we will proceed and how we will make it smoothly, not be stuck in a traffic jam, not moving anywhere.

So we're thinking about a variety of scenarios. Not all of them are being discussed publicly. We face concrete threats, not on the daily basis, but it's a true reality for us. Drones flying in with 10 kilos of explosives. and we have to counter-fight it with jets, attack it and hit the drone. So that's a real threat. That was the Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindagas Sinkavuchis talking to the BBC's Newsnight programme.

After months of legal wrangling, the media giant Paramount Skydance has reached a settlement with a California-led group of US states and a Hollywood Writers' Union. They were suing it in order to block its proposed 110 $10 billion merger with Warner Brothers Discovery. Announcing the agreement, the California Attorney General Rob Bonta said he still had misgivings. I want to be clear about something right up front.

This settlement is not a vote of support for this merger. It is not a blessing of the broader merger. But opponents of the settlement have accused Rob Bontor of caving in to wealthy interest. Iani Wells reports on the background to the dispute and what this settlement deal will mean. So these 12 US states were unhappy about the idea of a merger between Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery, essentially arguing that it would impact competition and also film production as well. The states were pretty clear that this deal that's been reached now doesn't mean that they endorse the merger.

They would still rather the merger didn't take place. But it has met certain criteria for them that will now pave the way, essentially, for this merger to continue. Some of what Paramount has agreed to includes meeting certain minimum thresholds of film production to try and make sure that a minimum amount of film production is kept within the United States, but also that a minimum number of films are produced. And this includes committing to producing at least 30 films in the first two years of the deal and 32 films for the next three years. A certain percentage of those will have to be independent films, a certain percentage also blockbusters. Now, another aspect that was a concern for these

US states was about editorial independence for some of the news brands, notably CBS News and CNN. So another part of this deal is that Paramount have agreed to essentially establish an independent editorial board to ensure that those two newsrooms retain. their editorial independence and can still report impartially on the news. Ione Wells. As most professional athletes will know, dealing with hostile crowds is a big part of the job. But when does booing stop being part of the fun

and cross over into unacceptable abuse? It's a question being asked in the world of darts right now after comments from the world champion, Britain's Luke Littler. Will Chalk told me more about him. If you're not a darts fan, I'd say here in the UK, actually, he's bordering on being a household name. I think if you went into a pub where people were watching sports on a Saturday, most people would have heard of Luke Littler,

which is slightly unusual for someone in the kind of relatively niche sport of darts, but then he is an unusual athlete. I mean, he turned pro at 16, on the PDC World Championship at 17. That's the youngest anyone has ever done that, is now still just 19 years old and has won almost every major Darts trophy there is. If you want a sense of how well he's thought of in the world of Darts, this is from a trailer from a BBC documentary about him. There is certainly nothing has ever been seen like it in Darts before.

What have he made of Luke's journey so far? He can talk about it. Every 17 years a star gets born and he's one of them. He has taken DART into the stratosphere. So lots of massive press. there, but he is also a controversial figure in some circles. And over the weekend, he was once again targeted by booze and whistles when he was playing at the World Series of Darts in Amsterdam.

It got so bad that the ref had to stop at one point and tell the crowd to calm down. He eventually got knocked out of the tournament, but crucially, he's now said that he might not ever play in the Netherlands again. Now, you might be thinking, empty threat. Well, maybe not because he's got previous for this. after being booed in Germany earlier this year, he pulled out of some European tour events there. So, crazy as it might sound for someone at the start of their career,

there are some now questioning whether this will seriously impact his future. One of them is Samuel Gill, who is the editor of dartnews.com. I think there's a real fear that within a few years, he won't, he'll just turn around and walk away from the sport, really. Especially in that nowadays, given you get like a million pounds for winning the World Championship. So he could be set up by the time he's 25 and then just decide I'm not doing this anymore. So, well, it all sounds horrible.

But why? Why are the fans booing him? I mean, it's not very journalistic of me, Alex, but the short answer is you would have to ask the fans themselves. There's no way I can look inside the head of a booing fan at the darts. I can offer some possible explanations. I mean, number one is that darts is known for its raucous atmosphere. And people also quite like to have a beer or something.

two or three or four perhaps when they go to the dots. So booing is nothing unusual in that type of atmosphere. Luke Little, though, clearly thinks he has been unfairly targeted, but that actually might be playing into this as well, because he's made comments about the booing before. So there could be an argument that he's put a bit of a target on his back because the fans now know it gets to him, so they're doing it even more.

I can tell you from the comments we get on the BBC Sport website as well, that there are people who think he's perhaps guilty of being a bit cocky at times. He is still 19 years old, though. It's a loss of pressure he's taken on, and lots of people who know him think the problem is that he's simply too good. He wins too much, and that annoys people. Never put a target on your back if you're a darts player. Will Chalk reporting.

And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at global podcast at bbc.co.com. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. use the hashtag global news pod. And don't forget our sibling podcast, The Global Story, which goes in-depth and beyond the headlines on one big story.

This edition of the Global News podcast was mixed by Pat Sissons and produced by Stephen Jensen and Wendy Urquhart. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritson. Until next time, goodbye. With a subscription to the BBC website and app, you can now get early access to your favorite BBC podcasts.

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