I support fact-based journalism as a subscriber and a reader of many publications across the political spectrum. I stand by the Associated Press for its decision to not change the name of the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America” in its heralded style guide that is used by journalists around the world.
The Trump administration’s action to block AP access to administration events, Oval Office and Air Force One because it did not change the name signals a much broader and troubling trend. In October, before the election, Columbia Journalism Review wrote about the media and “anticipatory obedience,” and highlighted ways then- candidate Trump would be copying Victor Orban’s “autocratic technique of using the regulatory state to punish media outlets whose coverage he dislikes.”
Ethical and fact-based journalism is a bulwark for democracy. The press, or “Fourth Estate,” is the only industry granted special rights and freedoms in the Constitution. Our democracy starts to weaken if press organizations do not exercise those rights and become captured by any political party or administration.
As a reader and subscriber to this publication, I call on you — the Sun-Times — and others to stand up for the AP through a public statement and ask the White House Correspondents’ Association to boycott any future press events that block access to the AP.
Erika Poethig, Lincoln Park
SEND LETTERS TO: letters@suntimes.com. To be considered for publication, letters must include your full name, your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes. Letters should be a maximum of approximately 375 words.
Gift idea for Mayor Johnson
We have a great way for Mayor Brandon Johnson to put a positive spin on his recent gift closet conundrum. Re-gift some of them for good through our program, Leave it for Love.
Since 2002 we’ve been collecting unused or unwanted items and sharing them with low-income, often isolated senior citizens throughout Chicagoland. Agencies we’ve partnered with in the past include Little Brothers — Friends of the Elderly, the Chicago Furniture Bank and the Pilsen Satellite Senior Center. Rather than keep the gifts in a closet where they collect dust and add clutter, why not give them to a senior who may really need a cashmere scarf, Yeti coffee tumbler or fleece blanket to keep warm this winter? We’ll gladly pick up at City Hall.
Jennifer Molski founder, Leave it for Love, Flossmoor
Customers’ money shouldn’t be used for lobbying
In his opinion piece last week, Andy Shaw made several excellent recommendations to our representatives in the General Assembly to rein in corruption. The recent case involving Michael Madigan and ComEd calls for another important change.
Currently, state-regulated utilities are allowed to spend ratepayer money lobbying the very people who oversee the regulators. So they can use our money to lobby the legislature to support raising the prices they charge us. Crazy, right? One might question, in fact, why it should be legal for regulated utilities to lobby at all. Yes, their voices should be heard, but it should be at public hearings only.
Colorado, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Maine have passed laws prohibiting public utilities from using ratepayer money to pay for lobbying. Thirteen other states have introduced similar bills. Sen. Suzy Glowiak Hilton, D-Western Springs, introduced a bill that would put some important restrictions on what utilities can charge to ratepayers, but it does not address lobbying.
Let’s fix this, Illinois.
Tom McDougal, South Kenwood
Trump has his own DEI program
As President Donald Trump ends our government’s DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs, he avails himself of the opportunity to substitute his own DEI program of disruption, entropy and inexpertness.
Paul L. Newman, Merion Station, Pennsylvania
Bird-brained on bird flu
I wonder how Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will handle the bird flu crisis. As the new administration shrinks and deletes agencies, perhaps instead of a chicken in every pot, there can be a chicken in every backyard. I’ll take two.
Felicia Carparelli, New Eastside