President Trump is blacklisting a news outlet for using a name he doesn't like.
It's that simple.
"We're going to keep them out," he said of The Associated Press, "until such time as they agree that it's the Gulf of America."
The AP is not going to give into Trump's demand. The AP can't. It has very good reasons for continuing to write "Gulf of Mexico" while noting Trump's "Gulf of America" decision. More importantly, AP editors know that this is about more than one body of water. The news outlet is taking a principled position that independent news outlets can't let a president dictate what a location is called all around the world.
But what about every other outlet?
I've been working the phones, and I sense that AP staffers are frustrated both by this stalemate and by the lack of public support. The New York Times, Reuters, AFP and a couple of other outlets have issued statements of solidarity. But the rest of the push to get The AP back in its rightful "pool" place has been happening backstage.
There is a big push happening. The White House Correspondents' Association, which represents the press corps, has been trying to work out a solution, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter. WHCA president Eugene Daniels has privately described it as a very delicate matter – so delicate, in fact, that leaks have been strongly discouraged.
Representatives for dozens of news outlets (even Newsmax) have privately signaled that they have The AP's back. There have been lots and lots and lots of emails bouncing between newsrooms. The WHCA has been using this behind-the-scenes show of support as leverage to bring White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to the proverbial negotiating table.
But is there anything to negotiate? No. Trump was crystal clear that The AP would have to change his stylebook guidance about the Gulf to regain access.
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The AP was first blocked from a Trump photo op one week ago. At first, only the pool reporter was banned; now the pool photographer is banned too. The wire service keeps trying anyway. David Bauder's latest story about the standoff says "two journalists from AP were denied entrance to Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday; they watched a live TV feed of Trump's remarks and were unable to ask questions."
Inside Mar-a-Lago, Axios reporter Marc Caputo asked about his recent reporting that Trump advisers have objections to other AP Stylebook entries that are viewed as liberal. (After the Q&A, Caputo published "MAGA's list of AP grievances.")
"I do think that some of the phrases that they want to use are ridiculous," Trump said. Caputo had mentioned two, "illegal immigrant" and "gender affirming care," and Trump said "I guess some are OK, but many aren't."
In other words, Trump is embracing the position of Word Police, wanting to approve some terms and rejecting others.
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👂 Patience is running thin |
To AP executive editor Julie Pace and her lieutenants, this dispute is not about assorted entries in a stylebook. "This is about the government telling the public and press what words to use and retaliating if they do not follow government orders," AP spokesperson Lauren Easton said after the Trump Q&A. "The White House has restricted AP’s coverage of presidential events because of how we refer to a location."
"The Associated Press has provided critical and independent coverage of the White House for over 100 years," Easton added. Indeed, The AP is so foundational to White House coverage that it has historically asked the first question at press briefings (a practice that Trump's press secretaries have dropped).
So why aren't more reporters and media outlets speaking out more vehemently to help The AP? In part, I'm told, it's because the WHCA has chosen to keep a lid on the talks.
Rightly or wrongly, some of the people involved feel that grandstanding would only impede the goal, which is to get The AP back in its rightful place. To put it another way, increased pressure could result in decreased success.
But judging by the phone calls I'm getting, patience with this secret course of action is running thin.
Complicating matters further, "everyone assumes they're next," one of the people involved said – meaning leaders of other news outlets expect their White House reporters will face retribution too. Some of those leaders want to preserve access for as long as possible. They oppose a boycott because, as one put it, "rejecting access to the president is a strange way to argue that we should have more access."
Meantime, it appears that The AP wants to exhaust all of its options before resorting to a First Amendment lawsuit. My conclusion: The wire service is in an impossible position. The Trump White House
wants this fight. And it's not going to end at the shores of the Gulf.
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>> All across X, Trump boosters have taken to calling The AP "Associated Propaganda" and mocking the news outlet for pushing "misinformation" because, in their view, whatever Trump says is true.
>> Gene Policinski of the Freedom Forum filed an excellent look at the legal arguments at play. "The First Amendment prevents government from requiring speech just as it prevents government from limiting speech," he noted.
>> Former AP Washington bureau chief Ron Fournier argued "the rest of the media remained cowed" at yesterday's Trump presser. "Their morbidity is profound: He will come for them, too. Words aren’t enough: Boycott the briefings, deny the WH a platform for its lies."
>> The New Yorker's Susan Glasser asked: "Anything Trump doesn't like that the government does = 'fraud.' How long until news organizations are banned unless they use this terminology too?"
>> NYT columnist Nick Kristof wrote: "It boggles the mind that Trump can complain about censorship and then block the AP from access to the Oval Office unless the journalists use language he prefers. But AP reporters have stood up to dictators worldwide, even endured prison; they're tougher than Trump."
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Zelensky hits Trump for 'disinformation' |
CNN's Ivana Kottasová and Kostya Gak report: "Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Donald Trump of repeating disinformation, a day after the US president falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war with Russia." Speaking to reporters in Kyiv today, "Zelensky pushed back on several unfounded claims" Trump made, saying "Unfortunately, President Trump – I have great respect for him as a leader of a nation that we have great respect for, the American people who always support us – unfortunately lives in this disinformation space."
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The illusion of transparency |
That's how I view Trump and Elon Musk's chat with Sean Hannity: The two men look like they're being transparent about DOGE, they're putting on a show of transparency, while Musk's actions actually remain mostly shrouded in secrecy. The Bulwark's Sam Stein was unimpressed: "You have to admire Sean Hannity's ability to get Trump and Musk for an exclusive, hour-long interview and make absolutely NO news from it."
>> I was intrigued that Musk described his role this way: "One of the biggest functions of the DOGE team is just making sure that the presidential executive orders are actually carried out."
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CNN filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Office of Personnel Management for records related to the security clearances of Elon Musk and anyone from DOGE who has been granted access to sensitive or classified government networks. Then came a curious reply: "Good luck with that, they just fired the whole privacy team," a message from an OPM email address said in response.
Sources told CNN that some members of OPM’s comms staff were also fired. The move "appears similar to Musk's previous move to fire the entire media relations department at Twitter/X so all press inquiries generated back an automated 'poop emoji' response," Zachary Cohen, Alayna Treene and Hadas Gold observed...
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Political media notes and quotes |
>> "Trump has threatened to imprison American reporters. Overseas, he’s getting them out," Jon Allsop writes. (CJR)
>> The government-wide effort to cancel news subscriptions continues: "Embassies and consulates were told to terminate subscriptions to the New York Times, the Associated Press and others," Jeremy Barr and John Hudson report. (Wash Post)
>> Three former FCC chairs are publicly critiquing Brendan Carr, and he's hitting right back, Oliver Darcy reports. (Status)
>> Read Quinta Jurecic on "the politics of forgetting" as it relates to the Justice Department deleting a January 6 rioters database from its website. News outlets are playing a key role in saving evidence of the crimes. (The Atlantic)
>> Puck and Echelon's latest polling finds that "news fatigue" is dissipating on the left: "A huge majority of Democrats (83 percent) said they are either 'very' or 'somewhat closely' following political news" right now. (Puck)
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"Want to know how messed up things are? The lightest story in the news is a plane crash. Everyone survived, though! That's why it's light."
–Stephen Colbert last night
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>> Newspaper giant Lee Enterprises says "an ongoing cyberattack is causing disruptions across its business." Some papers "continue to report disruption to their regular news-printing operations." (TechCrunch)
>> The Knight Foundation is making a $25 million infusion into the American Journalism Project. (Axios)
>> Politico has rolled out its new leadership structure, with Alex Burns elevated to senior exec editor across North America. (X)
>> "Adrienne Roark, who leads all news gathering for CBS News and stations, is expected to join TEGNA in a senior role," the new Breaker newsletter reports. (Breaker)
>> CNN alum Brian Lowry is now media editor at TheWrap. Cheers, fellow Brian! (TheWrap)
>> Lowry's latest column is a reminder to the press that "there's simply no mollifying MAGA." (TheWrap)
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Liam Reilly writes: Hearst chief Steve Swartz told staffers yesterday that the company's 2024 revenue hit a record $13 billion, thanks in part to its credit rating agency and its local TV stations. But Swartz cautioned that it "will be difficult to achieve another year of profit growth in 2025," given the "massive drop off in election advertising" during an off-year period, and an "increasingly competitive advertising market" overall.
>> Maybe most interestingly, Swartz said generative AI is putting pressure on Hearst's profits: New competitors are using AI "to enter our markets as well, particularly in health, and generative AI search products are costing our magazines and newspapers valuable digital traffic. We will need to respond."
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>> The Humane AI Pin is no more. The remnants are being sold to HP. (The Verge)
>> Former OpenAI exec Mira Murati has unveiled "her new startup's name, Thinking Machines Lab, and goal: developing A.I. systems focused on the interaction between humans and A.I." (Axios)
>> Bluesky's latest updates include "a 'followers only' reply option." (TechCrunch)
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A cry for leadership from L.A. |
The Ankler's Richard Rushfield calls it "The Great Shrug:"
"After the disruption of our business model, the hopelessness for most of the streaming path, the failure to revitalize their commitment to film, Covid, the strikes, the flight of production and a good swath of our city being burned to the ground, the total lack of public leadership from this industry's heads is becoming a serious problem. That vacuum is leading everyone to conclude that this whole thing just may be irreparable."
Rushfield sees a similar "it's all doomed" attitude taking root in Washington. But he's in no mood to shrug. He is crying out for leadership. This one is behind The Ankler's paywall because it's worth it...
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Entertainment odds and ends |
>> "A California jury has found A$AP Rocky not guilty of two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm." (CNN)
>> "The White Lotus" season three premiere scored 2.4 million viewers Sunday night, way up from season two. (TheWrap)
>> Almost no one knows what it's about yet (!) but Universal "has moved the release of Steven Spielberg's untitled event film to June 12, 2026." (TheWrap)
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