Today we see hair-pulling and gnashing of teeth in the press over a move made by Donald Trump. Yes, yes – again. This time it involves a decision made at the White House regarding press access, and judging by the reaction, you would think the president had gone over to the National Archives and taken a Zippo to the Bill of Rights. Sure, the reason was petty, and the action taken was snarky – yet the press reacted like a teenager whose X Box was just pitched into a smelter.
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This all stems from Trump’s effort to make the cartography alteration of “The Gulf of America.” The Associated Press is taking a stance against using this new designation, as the news syndicate prides itself on being the official arbiter of the journalistic lexicon. As a result of being obstinate on the issue, the White House declared yesterday that AP correspondents would not be granted access to what are now Trump’s frequent Oval Office impromptu press gatherings for executive order signings.
In reaction to this decision, the AP and others in the media are handling this with all the grace of senior class ingenue told they cannot sit at the Cool Kids table. You can probably guess how this was addressed by the self-important prigs in the press; yes, the First Amendment, censorship, and freedom of the press were all trotted out in various reactions.
Today our @AP White House reporter was denied access to the Oval Office because the Associated Press recognizes the international body of water on our southern coastline as the Gulf of Mexico, while acknowledging President Donald Trump’s order to rename it the Gulf of America.…
— Tara Copp (@TaraCopp) February 11, 2025
Peter Baker joined in as well, with an official word from the AP’s Executive Editor Julie Pace.
Trump aides bar @AP reporter from the Oval Office because the wire service still refers to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of Mexico. Limiting access “based on the content of AP’s speech … plainly violates the First Amendment,” says @JuliePace. https://t.co/3O9Hc7gkh4
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) February 11, 2025
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Ms. Pace has since locked down her social media, choosing to bravely avoid defending her position. So she complains about the limiting of free expression while also limiting others from expressing their views to her. Huh.
Perhaps the most outrage was seen from The FIRE Organization, a free speech advocacy group. In its posting they invoked all manner of hysterics: “alarming attack,” “viewpoint discrimination,” “unconstitutional,” “punish,” and “fundamental freedom” were all trotted out in response. To which we had to ask – did you react in kind when Joe Biden did this exact thing while he was in office?
Remember that time you folks were equally outraged at this level when Joe Biden equally barred a news outlet from White House events?
Yeah, we do not either… https://t.co/SNFHgmaire pic.twitter.com/Da2aop1YGt
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) February 12, 2025
And therein lies the issue. Somehow when a Democrat president acts aggressively towards the press these fainting couch performative theatrics are never on display. Yet today we are told the First Amendment is being violated because a correspondent was not allowed into a room. The AP is not stopped from reporting or using free expression. The proof? Look how the Associated Press was not silenced in any fashion and has been able to freely come out with its official statement on being allegedly censored.
As just another means of showing how ridiculous this wailing has been, look at what is being said. If the AP does not have the chance to share its reports with the public, that threatens our democracy and our rights. Then how does the syndicate describe the fact that not one but two major newspaper chains recently dropped the Associated Press as their wire service provider? To follow the logic, Gannett and McClatchy are violating the First Amendment by no longer using AP to provide their news content.
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And just to drop a putrid cherry atop this spoiled sundae of outrage, let’s address the claim that it is unacceptable for Trump to attempt to control the language.
And maybe this dispute will turn out to be an isolated incident. But it doesn’t feel that way. As @JonahDispatch wrote back in 2021, “if you control the language, you control the argument, which means you control how reality is perceived.”
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 12, 2025
This is the AP we are talking about, the outlet that uses its stylebook for leftist activist causes in its reporting. They have told us that it is required to use a capitalized “B” for blacks, but just the lower case “W” when describing whites. It also has mandated that “illegal immigrants” is not proper, because while the act of entering the country can be described as “illegal,” it cannot apply to the individual. (This is like saying you can commit a car theft, but that does not make you a thief.) The best was its approach to redefining protests.
First, the AP Stylebook was making the distinction not to refer to the violent BLM uprisings in cities as riots. Then months later, following the January 6 Capitol riot, it declared the definition of “insurrection” applied. (Phrases like “mob,” “riot” and “insurrection” were appropriate, noted John Daniszewski, vice president and editor at large for standards.) And then, after not one but several incidents in state capitols where there were uprisings within their chambers, the AP scolded Republicans for applying the AP terminology to describe them as insurrections.
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These are the ever-shifting standards we are forced to contend with, as the press outlets who love to accuse others of trafficking in misinformation cannot even adhere to a set of standards in their profession. Now being physically excluded from a recorded event that can be seen in its entirety can be declared an act of censorship…all while nobody has stopped you from going out and bleating about how you are being silenced.
