Week of Feb. 27, 2025

From the editor’s desk

Want to know a quick and easy way to dismantle a democracy? Derail its media outlets. The less the public knows about what officials are doing, the easier it is for corruption to flourish, and the harder it becomes for fair elections to take place. 

Here’s what’s happening on that front lately: 

From The Associated Press on Feb. 12: 

The White House blocked an Associated Press reporter from an event in the Oval Office on Tuesday after demanding the news agency alter its style on the Gulf of Mexico, which President Donald Trump has ordered renamed the Gulf of America.

Julie Pace, AP’s senior vice president and executive editor, called the administration’s move unacceptable.

“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” Pace said in a statement. “Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.”

Two days later, the White House banned The Associated Press from the Oval Office and Air Force One indefinitely.

The AP went to court and lost, at least temporarily. Most news outlets reported on this on Feb. 24. According to the BBC, “US District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, declined to grant the news outlet’s emergency motion, but set another hearing for the case for 20 March.”

This week, the plot thickened further. From the AP: 

The White House said Tuesday that its officials “will determine” which news outlets can regularly cover President Donald Trump up close—a sharp break from a century of tradition in which a pool of independently chosen news organizations go where the chief executive does and hold him accountable on behalf of regular Americans.

Readers, I am well aware that, to a large degree, the media is not in Americans’ good graces. In fact, a poll discussed on the Gallup Blog just today reports, “Americans’ trust in the mass media is at its lowest point in more than five decades.”

There are plenty of legitimate complaints to make about the media, and I 100% stand by anyone’s right to make them. But a problematic free press is far better than no free press—or than free press deliberately hindered by the president. In countries where officials aren’t held accountable by non-state-sponsored media, the government gets to control the conversation, and corruption goes unchecked. That is a slippery slope toward authoritarianism.

On a related note, I know that a small, local newspaper like the RN&R is not going to single-handedly save democracy. What we can do in the name of a well-informed, productive society is to continue to tell the stories of the people in our community. That is a meaningful step in keeping our community connected and intact.

In our March cover story, you’ll meet Randall Lorenz, a retired Air Force veteran. When Randall was in his 60s, he took a 23and Me test, was shocked to learn that he had been adopted, and started an incredible journey to discover his birth family. It’s a fascinating, touching story of one Reno local—and a TMCC librarian whose help meant the world to him.

Keep an eye out for the paper edition of the March RN&R. It’ll start hitting the stands this weekend.

Take care,

—Kris Vagner, managing editor