One of the facets of Germany of the the 1940s was to control the press, they gave out press passes like sugar plums... to those who were deserving to hear the words of the king. We Trump has learned his lessons well!
Midland Daily NewsBy Mary Ellen Klas, Bloomberg OpinionFeb 26, 2025President Donald Trump’s standoff with the Associated Press over its refusal to abide by his executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico isn’t a benign dust-up between a global media institution and a stubborn president. It’s a deliberate and carefully targeted strategy of media intimidation.When the AP announced that its stylebook would continue recommending using the “Gulf of Mexico” instead of “Gulf of America” because it is an international body of water and Trump’s order carries authority only in the US, the organization essentially formalized its disagreement with Trump. He couldn’t handle that, so earlier this month he barred AP reporters from White House events. On Friday, the AP sued.
But the real purpose is not about the "Gulf of Mexico" but to silence the news media!
The ultimate goal isn’t to give mapmakers a bunch of business. It’s a strategy to keep the inconvenient truths about government out of mainstream public opinion. And it’s a strategy that works. I lived through a mini version of it in Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. Ron DeSantis iced out reporters, stocked his news conferences with cheerleaders and DeSantis proxies, shielded the public from timely data about coronavirus outbreaks, and elevated fringe medicine.
And that my dear is what this whole Gulf of Mexico flap was... a test of the news outlets. Who will carry the party line.
Meanwhile, TASS the Russian state press gets access to a White House press conference. Now either they crashed the press conference without an invite or the White House panicked and lied when they got caught.
One of the things lacking in news coverage is the local angles of Trump's policies. The national news centers on the big "dust-ups" like the Trump-Vance-Zelenskyy debacle. It's hour after hour of coverage which means not focusing on the effects of the executive orders and firings of employees. I my geographic location there is going to be an negative effect on the many national parks, fighting forest fires, weather forecasting. Wait until ICE raids the vegetable field and orchards during the harvest seasons. While the AP can litigate, the local newspapers are taking a financial beating.
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