Perhaps tired of watching President Donald Trump wage war on the media all by himself (more on that in a moment), Elon Musk decided to lob a serious attack of his own.
Musk went after CBS News’ “60 Minutes” because, apparently, he was upset over a story the news magazine show aired Sunday night. Correspondent Scott Pelley did a segment on the first month of the Trump presidency, focusing on the human impact of the cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development, as well as the cuts being made by the Department of Government Efficiency, which Musk runs.
Musk did not respond to interview requests from “60 Minutes,” but he did go off on “60 Minutes” on X. He posted a clip from the show’s interview last year with then-Vice President Kamala Harris and wrote, “60 Minutes are the biggest liars in the world! They engaged in deliberate deception to interfere with the last election. They deserve a long prison sentence.”
Musk was alluding to the “60 Minutes” interview with Harris before last November’s election. In a question about the Middle East, CBS News ran Harris giving one answer during a clip on “Face the Nation” but aired a different answer to the same question on “60 Minutes.” Trump has sued CBS for $10 billion, saying the edited answers were meant to hurt his chances of winning the election.
CBS News has since done something news organizations rarely do: It released the entire transcript and all the footage of the Harris interview, and it appears the network did nothing inappropriate.
Still, Musk’s post was disturbing.
Prison? Seriously? And is this the same person who has consistently preached about the First Amendment and free speech as he turned his social media platform into the Wild West of speech where anything goes? In fact, just a few hours earlier, Musk tweeted, “One of the first things Hitler did upon gaining power was apply aggressive censorship.”
As far as Musk’s comments about “60 Minutes,” Mediaite’s Alex Griffing called it a “chilling” post. The New Republic’s Edith Olmsted called it a “fascist threat.”
Normally, who cares what someone — even a billionaire such as Musk — has to say? But seeing how he has grown so close to Trump and, it appears, has a powerful voice in our government and country, any such threats should be taken seriously.
It’s all in the wording
Apparently President Donald Trump’s ban on The Associated Press is not just about the AP’s decision to continue using “Gulf of Mexico” instead of “Gulf of America.”
In a piece for Axios, Marc Caputo writes, “One of the big reasons President Trump is limiting AP reporters’ White House access is to protest what aides see as years of liberal word choices that the wire service’s influential stylebook spread across mainstream media, according to top White House officials.”
White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich told Caputo, “This isn't just about the Gulf of America. This is about AP weaponizing language through their stylebook to push a partisan worldview in contrast with the traditional and deeply held beliefs of many Americans and many people around the world.”
OK, give me a second to roll my eyes.
According to Caputo’s story, some of the phrases and words that some conservatives object to are capitalizing the B in Black when referring to Black people and culture, but not capitalizing the W in white, as well as other guidance when it comes to immigration and transgender issues.
If there is one giant news organization that is known for its impartiality and neutral reporting, it’s The Associated Press. Caputo, in fact, said it is considered “the gold standard of neutrality.” That’s well-put and true.
Lauren Easton, vice president of corporate communications for the AP, told Caputo that AP “is a global, fact-based, nonpartisan news organization with thousands of customers around the world who span the political spectrum. If AP journalism wasn't factual and nonpartisan, this wouldn't be the case.”
Scratch that
The Washington Post has killed what was supposed to be an upcoming print advertisement from two groups calling for Elon Musk to be fired as the head of DOGE.
Common Cause and the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund had bought two ads for $115,000. One that was supposed to run today called for Musk to be fired after asking if it was Musk or Trump running the country. The ad reportedly said, “The Constitution only allows for one president at a time.”
CNN’s Liam Reilly reports, “After sending the Post the artwork on February 11, Common Cause was told three days later that the Post would not be able to run the wrap, a spokesperson for the group told CNN. The advocacy groups had signed a contract with the Post and were waiting for a final review from the newspaper before sending over the funds. When the advocacy group asked the Jeff Bezos-owned outlet whether there was anything they could do to alter the wrap to make it more suitable, they were simply told that the Post could not run it.”
According to Reilly’s story, the ad that was killed was a wrap, meaning it wrapped around the outside of the paper. That was the one that was nixed. However, there was a second ad that was to appear inside the newspaper and had a similar message. That one said, “No one elected Elon Musk to any office.”
Reilly wrote, “Though the Post was amenable to publishing the inside ad, Common Cause told the paper to forget it and walked away.”
According to Reilly’s story, the Post would not comment on specific advertising decisions and would not say if Bezos was involved. However, the Post’s policy, like pretty much the policy of every paper in the country, is that the news outlet can refuse to run any ad it doesn’t want to run for pretty much any reason, or no reason at all.
Virginia Kase Solomón, Common Cause’s president and chief executive, told Reilly that the Post’s decision was “concerning,” reminding everyone that the Post’s slogan is “Democracy dies in the darkness.” Solomón said the Post “seems to have forgotten that democracy also dies when a free press operates from a place of fear or compliance … Yet now, we are forced to ask ourselves if The Washington Post — a pillar of investigative journalism during Watergate — is unwilling to challenge those in power. Under Jeff Bezos’ ownership, concerns about corporate influence over the press have only grown, and this decision raises serious questions about the paper’s independence.”
A night to remember
