The new Trump White House is not playing around. If you don't abide by the rules, you don't get what members of the administration have accurately said is a "privilege" of participating in daily briefings or White House events. The battle between the Trump administration and the Associated Press is front and center, though it goes further than that.
Last Friday, the AP sued after the White House, weeks before, denied the outlet a spot for the daily briefing and in covering a White House event at the Oval Office. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich made an announcement about the outlet's future access, sharing that the AP's space would be open to other outlets. The decision stems from the AP refusing to refer to the once-named "Gulf of Mexico" as the "Gulf of America," though the outlet has had no problem changing words and spellings before. It didn't take long for a judge to rule against the AP on Monday.
The AP didn't merely lose in the courts, but in the court of public opinion as well. Not only was it revealed not long after Hamas' October 7, 2023, terrorist attack against Israel that the AP's journalists were embedded with terrorists, but the outlet continued to share pro-Hamas propaganda. This recently included the death of Shiri Bibas and her young sons, Kfir and Ariel, who were just 10 months old and 4 years old when they were murdered. Last weekend, the outlet spoke about Shiri and her children as having believed to have "died in captivity."
BREAKING: A body released by Palestinian militants overnight was confirmed by the family to be of Shiri Bibas, the Israeli mother whose sons also died in captivity. https://t.co/fcIypPLcGV
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 22, 2025
Among those most vocal in calling out the Trump administration for its steps against the AP, who even spoke about the outlet suing the Trump administration, is CNN's Brian Stelter.
His pinned post from February 12 remains a thread about Trump and the AP.
Recommended
Out with the oldspeak. In with President Trump's newspeak – or else.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 12, 2025
The AP being barred from Trump's events is part of a much larger weaponization of language to advance the MAGA agenda 🧵
The White House's recent decisions aren't just involving the AP, though. On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) will no longer have a monopoly on deciding which outlets get to ask questions. "All journalists, outlets and voices deserve a seat at this highly coveted table," Leavitt shared. "We are going to give the power back to the people."
Predictably, the liberal legacy media was not happy. The WHCA also released its own statement, even after it was silent when the Biden-Harris administration cut access for hundreds of outlets, especially conservative ones. They also filed a motion to submit an amicus brief on the AP's behalf.
I'm old enough to remember when the Biden White House revoked 442 reporters' press credentials
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) February 25, 2025
...and the WHCA responded with an "officially noncommittal stance" pic.twitter.com/y5F23BI1zd
WHCA STATEMENT ON WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCEMENT pic.twitter.com/QVQnwSuydj
— Eugene Daniels (@EugeneDaniels2) February 25, 2025
Bringing this back to Stelter, back in March 2021, before he was let go from and then returned to CNN, the host of the ironically titled "Reliable Sources" did a segment discussing whether Fox News reporters should be removed from the press pool. He ranted and raved, just as many so-called journalists on the left do, about how Fox has "radicalize[d]."
Just as Leavitt has used such a word, Stelter wondered, "Should [Fox News] be afforded the privileges that come with news gathering?" His guest, David Zerwick of The Bulwark, an anti-Trump outlet, went on an even more unhinged rant against the popular news network.
March, 2021. Brian Stelter does a segment on if Fox reporters should be removed from the White House Press Pool.
— MAZE (@mazemoore) February 26, 2025
"Should it be a part of the White House Press Pool...should it be afforded the privileges that come with news gathering?"
This is CNN. pic.twitter.com/OuGruP3rJt
CNN also put out a headline on Tuesday afternoon, not long after Leavitt made her announcement. "The White House is now deciding who can cover the president, reversing decades of precedent," it lamented.
It's not merely that the WHCA couldn't be bothered to put out a statement expressing concern about the silencing of conservative outlets, but the other associations it had during the Biden-Harris administration.
Recall how President Joe Biden had cards with reporter's names, outlets, and even their questions, as Townhall covered at the time. One such reporter was Courtney Subramanian, who is listed as a board member of the WHCA.
Courtney Subramanian is now on the executive board of the WHCA, just so everyone's clear on the game being played here. https://t.co/D0TnuwpA4H pic.twitter.com/CMYeZxCgyS
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 26, 2025
I can't help but notice you didn't sem as upset when the Biden Administration was having reporters pre-submit their questions. https://t.co/flCQzUSN1X pic.twitter.com/fcN1npyhHt
— News Bro (@Newzbro) February 26, 2025
It's also not merely a matter of how the WHCA and legacy media outlets and "journalists" are reacting to the decision, but also whether Americans even turn to such outlets for news anymore. Cygnal President Brent Buchanan spoke to that in his daily takes on Wednesday.
Sharing coverage from The New York Times, Buchanan pointed to how Americans get their news. "The emerging electorate isn’t tuned into mainstream media. Over 60% of voters under age 55 get their news from a social media source. Over a third of Black and Hispanic voters turn to YouTube. For men under 55, 20% are listening to podcasts and 25% getting news from X. All these groups are who elected Trump," Buchanan aptly stated.
And why should these demographics, which shifted to the right and thus helped elect Trump last November, turn to a legacy media that hated Trump throughout his first term, the 2020 campaign as well as the 2024 one, and now that he's just started his second term?
