Media boycotts won’t solve the Gulf of Mexico controversy

Journalists are stubborn, non-joiners

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It’s a bad idea for media organizations to band together in a boycott or some other dramatic protest of how one of its members is being treated.

Better to do just what the Associated Press did late yesterday - file a lawsuit against the Trump White House for punishing the AP over its decision to keep calling the Gulf of Mexico- uh - the Gulf of Mexico! Exactly what it’s been called for the past 400 years. Trump banned the AP from Oval Office events and from Air Force One. After several tries to work out a settlement, the AP wisely stood up for its First Amendment rights and filed suit.

This whole kerfuffle over renaming the gulf is a sideshow. The only good that’s come from it are a few internet memes, which have suggested other possible names:

· The Gulf of Higher Egg Prices

· The Gulf of Fragile Masculinity

· And my favorite: The Gulf of Meaningless Distraction While the Rich Who Pay No Taxes Loot the Treasury and Burn the Constitution

Though it may be “a meaningless distraction”, it raises important points about whether it’s a good idea for media organizations to join hands and fight for one of its ostracized members.

Some media observers have suggested that if the AP is banned from the Oval Office, then all other media outlets should refuse to cover media events in the Oval until the AP is let back in. I don’t like that idea, for several reasons.

It assumes that if, for instance, the New York Times, NBC News and other mainstream media outlets boycotted media events – that there aren’t other media organizations that would trip over themselves to take their place. I’m sure conservative outlets like Newsmax and OAN would gladly jump in to fill the void. And the Trump team would love having nothing but fawning coverage of their events.

It also assumes that media organizations are a well-organized group who work together for their common interests. Rest assured; they are not. Most journalists I know are competitive non-joiners who value their independence and strive to beat the competition, not help them.

I would always chuckle when someone accused the local media in Des Moines of “obviously” coordinating our coverage to make a certain newsmaker look bad, or to cover the same story. Anyone who makes a complaint like that doesn’t know journalists very well. We’re about the most disorganized, uncooperative lot of people you could imagine. We would struggle to coordinate a church bake sale.

Protest letters are fine

To their credit, news organizations have banded together to write several protest letters. One, from the White House Correspondents’ Association, said banning the AP “does not serve the presidency or the public.” It continued, “News organizations must be free to make their own editorial decisions without fear of government intrusion.”

Even the pro-Trump Newsmax wrote a protest letter, saying, “We fear a future administration may not like something Newsmax writes and seek to ban us.” Rightly so. The door swings both ways.

Trump, of course, relishes picking fights with the media because his base loves it. A White House statement said while the AP’s “…right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected by the First Amendment, it does not ensure their privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces like the Oval Office and Air Force One.” I would remind the Trump team that the White House is not Mar-a-Lago. It’s the people’s house. We own it. Trump doesn’t.

To add to the silliness, why would Trump target the Associated Press? Do Americans have a lot of animosity against the AP, which is about as generic a brand as Kleenex or Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup?

Not the first time this has happened

There is some precedent to White House media banding together on behalf of one of its members. In 2009, the Obama White House offered a Treasury Department official for an interview by all major news networks except Fox News. The networks refused to do the interview unless Fox News was let in. The White House relented, but that was the Obama team, which cared about media relations and tried to do the right thing. The Trump administration cares about nothing but the glorification of “King Trump”, and a media boycott would play right into their hands.

Late Friday, the AP joined the growing list of lawsuits against Trump. The AP says the White House had ordered it to use certain words in its reporting, and that it’s suing “to prevent the executive branch from coercing journalists to report the news using only government-approved language.”

Meantime, I will never call the Gulf of Mexico anything other than the Gulf of Mexico. Just as I’ve continued to call DC’s airport National Airport, even though that change wasn’t done on a president’s whim. It was a 1998 act of Congress that added Reagan to the name. But I don’t say it. That’s just me – being the stubbornly uncooperative, independent, non-joiner that I am.

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