Normally more likely to voice support for President Donald Trump’s decisions, attendees and speakers at a gathering of conservative Christian broadcasters expressed ambivalence this week about the White House’s resolve to bar The Associated Press (AP) from presidential events.
Speaking during a panel on “values-driven media” at the National Religious Broadcasters conference on Wednesday, Cheryl Chumley, an opinion editor at The Washington Times, said she was “optimistic” after hearing the Trump administration was “booting a lot of the legacy media” out of the White House press corps and “opening the doors for alternative media.”
But fellow panelist Raymond Arroyo, a prominent host on the Catholic-focused Eternal Word Television Network and occasional host of Fox News programs, disagreed, saying, “I’m not so sure I like that idea.”
Arroyo, who worked for AP early in his career, added later, “I would prefer seasoned reporters. A podcaster coming in, a comedian sitting in the chair once occupied by the AP, I don’t think that’s a good tradeoff.”
Arroyo said he once wrote for newsroom veteran Bob Novak, whom he described as “the dean of the Washington press corps,” and said Novak told him: “These people are your sources. They’re not your friends. Don’t forget that.”
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“I never have,” Arroyo concluded. “When you get too close to the power of the source, it corrupts your vision.”
Earlier this month, the White House banned AP reporters from access to the Oval Office, Air Force One and events held at the White House because AP announced it would continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico by its traditional name, rather than the Gulf of America, the name Trump designated for it in a Feb. 9 executive order, signed as the president flew over the gulf on his way to the Super Bowl. (In a previous order, signed on Inauguration Day, Trump had directed the secretary of the Interior to “take all appropriate actions” to rename the gulf.)
The AP updated its style guide soon thereafter to clarify that, while “acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen,” it plans to refer to the region as Gulf of Mexico. In response, the White House blocked an AP reporter from covering certain Oval Office events, and on Friday AP filed a lawsuit in federal court to overturn the ban.
Some conservative outlets, including Fox News and Newsmax, have joined an effort to defend AP, signing a confidential letter addressed to the White House, according to Status News.
“The First Amendment prohibits the government from asserting control over how news organizations make editorial decisions. Any attempt to punish journalists for those decisions is a serious breach of this Constitutional protection,” the letter reads.
On Tuesday, the White House also announced it would no longer allow the White House Correspondents’ Association to decide which organizations can take part in the designated press pool on Air Force One and at other events that can accommodate only a few reporters, saying a wider range of outlets, such as podcasts and streaming services, should be included in the pool, which traditionally draws only from major newspaper and TV outlets and wire services.
That decision too was opposed by liberal and conservative-leaning outlets alike, with a Fox News White House reporter blasting the decision on social media.
This move does not give the power back to the people – it gives power to the White House. The WHCA is democratically elected by the full-time White House press corps.
WHCA has determined pools for decades because only representatives FROM our outlets can determine resources all… https://t.co/GeGrckDYVt
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) February 25, 2025
On Monday, a federal judge allowed the White House’s ban to stand for now, though more legal action is promised by AP. “As we have said from the beginning, asking the President of the United States questions in the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One is a privilege granted to journalists, not a legal right,” the White House press office said in response to the ruling.
Some of those at the Gaylord Texan convention center this week backed the White House’s ban, expecting it would be temporary. NRB member Jeffrey Anderson, who has worked in Christian broadcasting for more than a decade, said that while he supports freedom of the press and free speech, he remains frustrated by what he described as liberal media.
“The Associated Press, they been very liberal for decades, and the Trump administration, I believe, is just giving them a swift kick in the butt,” he said, adding that he expected the outlet would be back in the press room within weeks.
But while most NRB members who were approached for comment declined to be quoted, claiming either ignorance about the situation or not being authorized to speak on behalf of their media organization, they nonetheless described unease with Trump’s actions.
Thomas Graham, CEO of Crosswind Media in Austin, Texas, said that while he celebrated the White House’s decision to grant podcasters, influencers and other content creators access to the halls of power, singling out one outlet for punishment can be a “slippery slope.”
“Anytime you get in a role where you’re pushing or punishing someone for reporting their view of the facts, that is not freedom,” he said, noting his background as a reporter. “Freedom should be freedom of speech, freedom of the press.”
Graham added that he opposed a “punitive approach, rather than open-expression approach.”
Jack Jenkins is an award-winning journalist and national reporter for the Religion News Service.
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12 Responses
Well, whining Associated Press, many Trump voters don’t approve of the AP’s coverage of President Trump. It is a privilege, not a right, as to who will attend a press conference. Also, many agree with NRB member Jeffrey Anderson mentioned in the article and give him kudos, and agree the AP has become institutionally geared toward the left and create fake news. As Trump’s attorneys argued in court case, “access to the president is at his discretion and not a constitutional right”.
A free press – secured by and under the first Amendment (freedom of speech) – is a necessity for democracy and what makes the US stand out.
Punishing or denying access of the press for “not saying what the POTUS wants or likes” or for criticizing the government and/or its leadership makes us no different from many of the fascist, communist dictatorships we claim to stand against.
Yet here we are. And those who support the POTUS are proud of it.
The press has always advanced a narrative, even if we weren’t aware of it or just liked it. Even facts can be presented in a biased manner to tell a narrative. We the people need to own our part in two HUGE problems: losing our ability to distinguish between fact and opinion (we take whatever our favorite source says or prints as FACT); and the inability to understand nuance (everything must be extreme; if you disagree with me you are to be villainized, mistrusted and unheard). This is on US; the press just takes advantage of it. If we want better, WE must be better.
BTW, the Russian media has access to the POTUS, but the AP does not.
That’s not a red flag to ANYONE?
The President needs to reestablish the Smith-Mundt Act.
The White House Correspondents’ Association/legacy media has done this to themselves. This is not just about the Gulf of America/ Mexico issue. The legacy media is distrusted by 70% percent of Americans. These people are no longer interested in truth. They look for narratives and lack integrity. Their ratings reflect it. Some outlets, have received $ from the government and a former PBS (Tax payer funded agency for news) reporter said that non of their journalists leaned conservative. I think DOGE will uncover more tax payer $ distributing to WHCA/Legacy Media. The legacy media are too close to their jobs. That they have forgotten to clearly report the truth. They asked questions that are not apropos to truth or circumspect. Bye WHCA!!! Racist Joy Reid is a snapshot of what has happened to the media. When you lie and call it truth to power? People are out on that. Which is why your ratings are terrible. No one trust the media. (Out of the 30% that do trust the media. Over half of that 30% leans center-right).Their false reporting is like a hot stove. Looks interesting, then touch it and get burned. So people stay away from the Legacy Bubble.
Just say you want to be lied to and get it over Jason westmas.
Enjoy the “trump recession”!
Trump’s actions are unAmerican and fascist. Anyone who doesn’t see that has to be willfully blind at this point. Yet so-called conservatives christians continue to support him. They have almost completely obliterated the gospel testimony in the US.
These are the same old smug democrat talking points. Call trump names and the people who support him. No legitimate talking points. Politics isn’t always black and white., And the church or christians, both of the liberal and conservative viewpoints have done plenty to ruin there on reputation without any politics involved. But their are still plenty, just as in Elijah’s day that live and proclaim the gospel. The question is are you living the gospel and proclaiming as seen in the scriptures??
“These are the same old smug democrat talking points. Call trump names and the people who support him. No legitimate talking points. Politics isn’t always black and white”
Do you say this about the “same old smug Republican talking points” that involve calling Harris (or Obama or Biden or Hilary Clinton) names and the people who support them? It really does go both ways.
I agree politics isn’t always black and white, but until we believers stop villainizing or making strawman arguments and outrageous accusations at the “other” political side, we won’t ever see the common ground at the foot of the cross.
Raymond Arroyo needs to except man made rules as much as he excepts his man made Catholicism. There’s a lot of things the Catholic Church practices that are not biblical and have no other backing then they are told to believe by man.
One really has to wonder why DJT feels the need to rename the gulf. To me it’s pretty obvious.
published megalomania definitions:
1. obsession with the exercise of power, especially in the domination of others.
2. a delusional mental illness that is marked by feelings of personal omnipotence and grandeur
3. a mania for great or grandiose performance.
Mania is characterized by euphoria, irritability, or even dysphoria, with mood lability, grandiosity or inflated self-esteem, and speeding up of thoughts (racing thoughts, flight of ideas), speech (rapid, pressured), and activity level
What many people claim as DJT’s “style” or “idiosyncrasies” map remarkably well onto known mental illness. What could go wrong? It’s fine. Everything’s fine. The less accountability the better, right?
Fellow believers, what goes around often comes around. If the President prevents some journalists from attending newsworthy events, his successor could do the opposite by disfavoring conservative and/or alternative media organizations. Opinions about The Associated Press are not at issue here; freedom-loving Americans of all political persuasions should oppose creating a precedent of exclusion.
“Some of those at the Gaylord Texan convention center this week backed the White House’s ban, expecting it would be temporary.”
— never expect power grabs to be ‘temporary’
“What about those of us who knew better, we who knew the words were lies and worse than lies? Why did we sit silent? Why did we take part? Because we loved our country. What difference does it make if a few political extremists lose their rights? What difference does it make if a few racial minorities lose their rights? It is only a passing phase. It is only a stage we are going through. It will be discarded sooner or later. Hitler himself will be discarded — sooner or later. The country is in danger. We will march out of the shadows! We will go forward. FORWARD is the great password.”
– “Ernst Janning”, Judgement at Nuremburg