The ABC in Australia has allegedly been barred from reporting on Donald Trump’s UK press conference this week following a clash with Australian journalist John Lyons.
The London bureau of Australia’s national broadcaster was informed that accreditation to attend the press conference had been withdrawn for “capacity reasons,” because there were only 15 spots for international outlets, according to The Guardian.
Guardian Australia has reported that the ABC still has access to the White House.
Lyons, who is reporting for Four Corners, drew US President Donald Trump’s irritation on Tuesday when he asked Trump whether it was appropriate that “a president in office should be engaged in so much business activity?”
Trump responded to Lyons that he wasn’t engaged in business activity, and told reporters he was spending US$250 million on a new ballroom for the White House.
He proceeded to accuse the reporter of “hurting Australia” with his questions.
“In my opinion, you are hurting Australia very much right now. And they want to get along with me,” Trump said.
“You know, your leader is coming over to see me very soon. I’m going to tell him about you. You set a very bad tone. You can set a nicer tone.”
Trump is due to have lunch with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, at the leader’s country retreat of Chequers on Thursday before the joint press conference.
The news follows the decision by Disney-owned US network ABC to pull Jimmy Kimmel off air “indefinitely” after he stated that the Trump supporters were trying to score political points from right-wing American political activist Charlie Kirk’s death.
Kimmel accused “the MAGA gang” of characterising Tyler Robinson, charged with the aggravated murder of Kirk, as “anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it”.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely,” a spokesperson for the Disney-owned network told the BBC.
His comments sparked outrage from the head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the group responsible for regulating broadcasts.
FCC chair Brendan Carr said Kimmel’s remarks constituted “the sickest conduct possible”.
He added the FCC could move to revoke the ABC’s affiliate licenses to force the organisation to punish Kimmel.
On Wednesday evening, California Governor Gavin Newsom spoke out on the firing of commentators and the cancellation of shows “coordinated” and “dangerous”.
Trump took to X to celebrate the news, deeming Jimmy Kimmel Live to have “worse ratings than even Colbert,” referencing The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which Paramount announced it was cancelling in July 2025, with the last episode airing in May 2026.
Unlike The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which was said to be cancelled on purely financial grounds, the ABC has cited Jimmy Kimmel’s comments on Charlie Kirk’s death as the reason for taking his program, which has been running since 2003, off air.
