The White House’s ban of The Associated Press drags on and shows no signs of letting up.
The Associated Press continues to rightfully call it the “Gulf of Mexico” and Donald Trump’s administration continues to wrongfully ban the AP for not calling it the “Gulf of America.”
This is where we are, folks.
The latest over the weekend is that two AP journalists were banned from boarding Air Force One to travel and cover Trump’s various trips.
Again, this would be a good place to remind everyone that the AP represents millions upon millions of Americans by reporting on the latest news involving the president of the United States.
The Associated Press’ David Bauder writes, “Journalists consider the administration’s move a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment — a governmental attempt to dictate what a news company publishes under threat of retribution. The Trump administration says the AP has no special right of access to events where space is limited, particularly given the news service’s ‘commitment to misinformation.’”
Commitment to misinformation? What a ridiculous description from the administration of what is going on, and a total misunderstanding of what the word “misinformation” means. The AP calling it the Gulf of Mexico is not meant to deceive its audience, but simply to call the body of water what it has been called for more than 400 years — well before the U.S. was even a country — and what the rest of the world recognizes as its name.
That line about “commitment to misinformation” came from Taylor Budowich, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, who posted on X:
“The Associated Press continues to ignore the lawful geographic name change of the Gulf of America. This decision is not just divisive, but it also exposes the Associated Press' commitment to misinformation. While their right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected by the First Amendment, it does not ensure their privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One. Going forward, that space will now be opened up to the many thousands of reporters who have been barred from covering these intimate areas of the administration. Associated Press journalists and photographers will retain their credentials to the White House complex.”
It’s also absurd to suggest that any other reporters who had previously been “barred from covering these intimate areas” have anywhere near the reach of the AP, which is used by thousands of media outlets.
In a statement, the AP said, “Freedom of speech is a pillar of American democracy and a core value of the American people. The White House has said it supports these principles. The actions taken to restrict AP’s coverage of presidential events because of how we refer to a geographic location chip away at this important right enshrined in the U.S. Constitution for all Americans.”
Meanwhile, Mediaite’s Kipp Jones notes that New York Times columnist David Brooks went on PBS and talked out of both sides of his mouth, saying he was both “appalled” by what Trump was doing to the AP, but that he understood it, too.
Brooks told the “PBS NewsHour” last Friday, “If they don’t want to talk to the AP, fine. The AP can do its own reporting. And so I’ve lived through all these administrations. And I think the deeper problem here, and this is our business. I hate to comment on the media because I’ve spent my life in it. But we have not represented enough Trump voices over the last 40 years — enough working-class voices over the last 40 years. And so if we had done that, maybe some of the hostility that’s come our way wouldn’t be there. And so I am appalled by what Trump is doing. But I understand sort of why he’s doing it.”
The issue here is trying to assign reasonable and rational thinking to a president who is rarely reasonable and rational when it comes to the media. Take it a step further, it’s making an excuse for something that’s inexcusable. Trump isn’t banning the AP because of hostility from working-class voices over the past 40 years. Trump is banning them because he made a goofy order to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico and the AP said, “No, that’s not what it’s called.” Then Trump got bent out of shape and is throwing a temper tantrum that you would think is below the leader of the free world.
Fighting for attention
The National Hockey League is currently on a two-week break so many of its best players can participate in something called the “4 Nations Face-Off.” It’s a round-robin tournament featuring players representing the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland.
On Saturday night, the heated rivals from the U.S and Canada faced off in Montreal and within seconds, literally, the game went viral. There were three fights within the first nine seconds of the game. Social media went crazy.
Noted NBA fan and podcaster Bill Simmons even seemingly abandoned the NBA All-Star Skills Competition for hockey, tweeting, “You had me at “3 fights in 9 seconds”
Simmons later tweeted, “Incredible period of hockey. WOW. Poor NBA All Star Saturday is getting annihilated.”
That was the general theme on social media — the comparison between the feisty NHL game and the laid-back NBA skills. While two NBA players were disqualified for trying to cheat at the skills competition by not even really trying, NHL players were passionately throwing fists — in what amounted to an exhibition game.
Anyway, the night paid off for the NHL. The game drew a rather respectable average of 4.4 million viewers on ABC. It was the most-watched non-Stanley Cup Final telecast since 2019. The U.S. won, 3-1 to advance to Thursday’s final. Their opponent will be determined after today’s play, but you know the entire hockey world (except for Sweden and Finland) is hoping it's a U.S.-Canada rematch.
The sports of “SNL”
