Our forthcoming book is The Comeback: The 2024 Elections and American Politics. The second Trump administration is off to an ominous start.
In his first four weeks, Trump's administration has:
Zoom in: These moves, while punitive, are temporary and a new president can easily reverse them. Broader efforts to target media companies by Trump, his administration and a Republican-led Congress recently could be harder to unwind.
- Banned the Associated Press: The White House last week said it would bar the AP from future events in the Oval Office and Air Force One over its decision not to directly follow Trump's executive order renaming "Gulf of Mexico" as "Gulf of America" in its style guidance.
- Ended federal news subscriptions: The State Department on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of news subscriptions around the world. The directive came shortly after the executive branch said it will stop spending money on Politico subscriptions after paying the outlet millions last year.
- Reshuffled Pentagon press: The Defense Department informed several outlets, including NPR, NBC News, Politico and CNN that they had to move out of their workspaces at the Correspondents' Corridor in the Pentagon, although their press credentials will remain intact. They will be replaced by mostly conservative outlets such as Washington Examiner, Daily Caller, and Newsmax, and others under a new otation system.
- Congressional PBS, NPR probe: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has called on the CEOs of NPR and PBS to testify at a DOGE subcommittee hearing about what she says is "systemically biased content." It's the first hearing to be announced for the subcommittee. Both broadcasters rely on congressionally appropriated funding to survive.
- FCC PBS, NPR probe: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is also investigating the two public broadcasters over whether their member stations violated FCC rules around airing commercial ads. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr implied that the investigation could help influence Congress' funding decision.
- FCC Comcast/NBC investigation: Carr informed Comcast he is opening an investigation into the company's diversity, equity and inclusion practices. It marked the first public effort by the new administration to target a private company for its DEI initiatives.
- FCC CBS inquiry: Carr opened an inquiry into CBS News to evaluate whether it violated the FCC's news distortion rules when it edited a "60 Minutes" interview with 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris during the campaign. The inquiry adds pressure to CBS, as it considers whether to settle a separate lawsuit filed against it last year by Trump before he took office.
Reality check: A strong U.S. legal and regulatory framework makes it difficult for Trump and his regulators to go after media companies without likely having to defend at least some of their actions in court.
Iowa pollster Ann Selzer files an absolutely blistering response to Trump’s lawsuit against her and the Des Moines Register, calling it a flagrant attempt to circumvent the First Amendment. https://t.co/o20lTv1Sde pic.twitter.com/N8DhxYmsUH
— David Enrich (@davidenrich) February 21, 2025
The @AP sues over White House punishment for not using Trump's preferred name for the Gulf of Mexico: "This targeted attack on the AP’s editorial independence and ability to gather and report the news strikes at the very core of the First Amendment." https://t.co/uy4HVcEodD
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) February 21, 2025
