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.
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.
Peter Baker joined in as well, with an official word from the AP’s Executive Editor Julie Pace.
Abuse the privilege, lose the privilege.