As others buckle to Trump's bullying, the AP holds the line.

This is what courage looks like.

It takes a lot these days to stand up for one’s principles. The retaliation from Trump World is often swift and brutal.

But that’s what the Associated Press is doing right now, and as every day goes by — with more retribution, more threats and more self-protective silence — the more inspiring and unusual it looks.

I already had a soft spot in my heart for Julie Pace, the top editor of the global news organization. She grew up in my hometown of Buffalo; and more importantly, she’s always struck me as a news leader with integrity, good judgment and a moral compass — not exactly universal qualities.

Now I’m even more impressed as the AP has stuck to its guns under attack from the Trump White House.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in the briefing room March 05, 2025. The Trump administration has kicked the AP out of its briefings after the global wire service refused to substitute Gulf of America for Gulf of Mexico in its journalism. / Getty Images

When Trump unilaterally decided that the Gulf of Mexico would henceforth be known as the Gulf of America, a lot of news organizations and other institutions — including Google and Apple — simply went along.

The AP, because it has a vast international audience, declined to do so. In their stories, at least for the first reference, they continue to use Gulf of Mexico, while acknowledging the Trump preference when appropriate. They chose not to update their style book, which many journalists use as a kind of professional Bible, to accommodate the change. They did this not to pick a fight with the president, but for solid reasons having to do with serving their audience.

Retribution from the White House came swiftly. AP reporters and photographers now are denied access to White House briefings and no longer allowed to travel with the president. In some sense, these journalists can no longer do their jobs as well.

It would have been easy enough for the AP to buckle — to just start doing Trump’s bidding, and keep their access.

Instead, the AP is suing the White House on First Amendment and due process grounds. Other news organizations and Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute are showing support with legal filings.

Here’s Pace on ABC News:

“This is about whether the government can control the language that we use, that ordinary people can use, and it’s about whether the government can retaliate against you if you don’t use the language that they prefer,” she said.

And Charles Tobin, the AP’s lead attorney:

“This White House has made it the official policy of the United States government to persecute journalists for their editorial judgment, the editorial judgment reserved to them by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” Tobin said at a public event, adding “let’s remember the framer’s original intent was to prevent the government from censoring journalists and other speakers’ work and forcing obedience to our leaders for an official point of view.”

Pushing back isn’t easy these days.

“An era of silence, censorship and fear is washing over America,” was how Jon Passantino put it recently as Oliver Darcy’s Status newsletter surveyed the sad reality. The summary is worth sharing:

While some believed Trump would usher in a regulatory-friendly environment, his Federal Communications Commission chief Brendan Carr has launched a flurry of politically motivated investigations into media outlets, opening probes into NPR and PBS and reinstating complaints about ABC, NBC, and CBS over their election coverage. Carr’s FCC has also opened investigations into Verizon and Comcast—the parent company of NBC News and MSNBC—over their diversity, equity and inclusion programs and threatened to go after others with the weight of the federal government. Sensing the peril, Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery and others preemptively announced they would end or scale back their diversity programs that Trump has derided—a clear signal designed to placate the president.

On Thursday, Trump took it a step further, railing against MSNBC and demanding Rachel Maddow and Nicolle Wallace resign over their coverage of his address to Congress. Meanwhile, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and Trump’s biggest financial booster and online propagandist, has fervently smeared the free press, even going as far as to demand that some journalists be fired over their reporting on the administration.

Inside the Trump administration itself, officials are now censoring reporting from news organizations, including from The Washington Post, The New York Times, MSNBC, WIRED, and others that have reported on Musk and DOGE’s brute force efforts to dismantle the government. At the same time, Trump’s White House digital strategy team has worked to undermine the press and amplify his messages, attempting to replace journalists with right-wing media sycophants and portray him as “KING.”

The New York Times documented this syndrome, too, in a sweeping Elisabeth Bumiller article headlined: “‘People are Going Silent’: Fearing Retribution, Trump Critics Muzzle Themselves.” Here’s a gift link to the article that led the Sunday print front page.

“The silence grows louder every day,” it began. “Fired federal workers who are worried about losing their homes ask not to be quoted by name. University presidents fearing that millions of dollars in federal funding could disappear are holding their fire. Chief executives alarmed by tariffs that could hurt their businesses are on mute.”

One Times reader commented: “This is how our democracy dies … with individual and institutional pre-compliance. I never thought I’d see this in my lifetime.” When the billionaire owners of the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times cozy up to Trump, and change their news organization’s content or practices in order not to displease him, we see democracy crumbling before our eyes.

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Amid all this, the AP’s move to resist Trump’s bullying is all the more remarkable. I don’t know if it will be successful, but I do know that holding the line is critical. The AP is showing the way.

So is Georgetown Law School’s dean, William Treanor, who a few days ago wrote a pointed rejoinder to a Trump administration threat to blackball law students unless the school eliminated DEI programs and curriculum. The dean’s letter is well worth reading; you can do that here.

Readers, how are we all to show this kind of courage, even in small or personal ways? While certainly not claiming any great bravery, I’m continuing to write on these subjects both here and in the GuardianUS. (My most recent Guardian column, on the misguided, pro-Trump “bias meter” at the Los Angeles Times, is here.)

What can you do? I would love to hear how you’re resisting the urge to obey in advance, which is exactly what authoritarian leaders most desire.

Are you making your voice heard? Are you, perhaps, choosing to express yourself to friends or family members when it would be easier to say nothing? Are you pressing your elected representatives to toughen up? Let me know.

Before signing off, I also want to bring to your attention something diabolical that’s in the works and gaining steam. A voter-suppression effort, it is called the SAVE Act, and it would make it difficult or impossible for millions of Americans to vote. Read about it here. One way you can help is by telling your member of Congress and senators, in no uncertain terms, to oppose it. The midterm elections next year are extremely important; all Americans must be able to vote.

Thank you all so much for your interest in the intersection of media and democracy, which is my topic here. This newsletter has grown to 40,000 subscribers; there is no paywall, by my choice, but some of you have become paid subscribers in order to support and encourage the effort. That’s deeply appreciated.