The Associated Press is suing the Trump White House. They’re not banned. Their reporters are barred from the Air Force One and the Oval Office for not calling the Gulf of America what it is. It’s funny since the AP style guide has been a liberal reporter’s go-to on how to sanitize and inject bias into their stories, with words like Illegal alien and pro-life erased. It’s why their recent statement about this kerfuffle is hilarious, which we’ll get to in a second. For now, the publication is taking this matter into the courtroom (via Politico):
The Associated Press is suing three Trump administration officials after being barred from some White House events and spaces, citing a violation of First and Fifth Amendment rights.
The lawsuit — filed in federal district court in Washington — comes after over a week of the White House punishing the AP for not changing its guidelines on the Gulf of Mexico — which President Donald Trump renamed the “Gulf of America.”
The AP has been shut out from covering Trump in the Oval Office, on Air Force One and at other White House events. The complaint names White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government,” the AP says in the lawsuit. “Allowing such government control and retaliation to stand is a threat to every American’s freedom.”
Oh, please—freezing out reporters isn’t exactly new. It’s been standard practice since forever; even former Rolling Stone editor Matt Taibbi noted this when he chucked about AP’s whine fest over the loss of access to the White House. That brings us to AP’s recent statement:
This is about the government telling the public and press what words to use and retaliating if they do not follow government orders.
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.
Saying, “telling the public and the press what words to use” gives the game away. Again, the AP style guide. It’s what this outlet does: tells people what to do or at least try. As for the White House, the Biden crew booted The New York Post—where was the outrage then? And NO ONE in the current press corps seems worried about the systems of censorship that have been codified in Europe and elsewhere, some of which were funded through USAID.
So, spare us, AP. You deserved that baseball whack to the face.