NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump's White House is taking on the role of media critic and asking for help from “everyday Americans."
The White House launched a web portal it says will spotlight bias on the part of news outlets, targeting the Boston Globe, CBS News, The Independent and The Washington Post in its first two “media offenders of the week.”
It's the latest wrinkle in the fight against what Trump, back in his first term, labeled “fake news.” The Republican president has taken outlets like CBS News and The Wall Street Journal to court over their coverage, is fighting The Associated Press in court over media access and has moved to dismantle government-run outlets like Voice of America.
Trump has also engaged in personal attacks, last month alone saying “quiet, piggy,” to a female reporter who was questioning him on Air Force One, calling a reporter from The New York Times “ugly, both inside and out” and publicly telling an ABC News journalist she was "a terrible reporter.”
“It's honestly overwhelming to keep up with it all and to constantly have to defend against this fake news and these attacks,” said press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who called the new web portal an attempt to hold journalists accountable.
After its debut, the White House asked for volunteers to submit their own examples of media bias. “So-called ‘journalists’ have made it impossible to identify every false or misleading story, which is why help from the American people is essential,” Trump's press office said.
Despite the attacks, Axios wrote this week that the mainstream media is ending the year as “dominant as ever” in capturing the president's attention and setting Washington's agenda, citing as one example The Washington Post's reporting on military strikes against boats with alleged drug smugglers.
The irony is that Trump engages with reporters at a level he hasn't seen with any other president in his lifetime, said Axios CEO Jim VandeHei, co-author of the report with Mike Allen.
“He's always bitched about the media and the press,” VandeHei told The Associated Press. “He gobbles this stuff up like hot McDonald's french fries. He's a mass consumer of this. He watches it, he calls reporters, he takes calls from reporters. ... That's always been the contradiction with him.”
CBS, the Globe and The Independent were criticized for stories about Trump's reaction to Democratic lawmakers who recorded a video reminding military members they were not required to follow unlawful orders. Trump accused the lawmakers of sedition “punishable by death.”
The White House said it was a misrepresentation to say Trump had called for their executions. The portal also said news outlets “subversively implied” that the president had issued illegal orders. The news articles they cited did not specifically say whether Trump had or had not ordered illegal activities.
Leavitt has been sharply critical of the Post's story on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's role in attacks on boats used by alleged drug smugglers in central America. The portal this week accused the newspaper of trying to undermine anti-terrorist operations.
“Let's be clear what's happening here: the wrongful and intentional targeting of journalists by government officials for exercising a constitutionally protected right,” said the Post's executive editor, Matt Murray. “The Washington Post will not be dissuaded and will continue to report rigorously and accurately in service to all of America.”
The new portal also contains an “Offender Hall of Shame" of articles it deems unfair and a leaderboard ranking outlets with the most pieces it objects to. Twenty-three outlets are represented, led by the Post's six stories. CBS News, The New York Times and MS NOW, the network formerly known as MSNBC, had five apiece. No news outlets that appeal to conservatives were cited for bias.
The conservative media watchdog Media Research Center, which has accused news outlets of having a liberal bias since 1987, welcomes the company.
“We’re pleased,” said Tim Graham, MRC’s director of media analysis. “It’s a stronger effort than Republican presidents have done before. I think all Republicans realize today that the media is on the other side and need to be identified as on the other side.”
VandeHei said about the portal, “I can't think of anything I care less about. If they want to set up a site and point out bias, great. It's called free speech. Do it. I don't think it makes a damned bit of difference.”
What is damaging is a constant drumbeat of claims that what people read in the media is false. “It makes people suspicious of the truth and the country suffers when we're not operating from some semblance of a common truth,” VandeHei said.
David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony with Rwanda's President Paul Kagame and Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is flirting with its all-time high on Friday.
The S&P 500 rose 0.1% and was on track earlier in the day to squeak past its record closing level, which was set in October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 69 points, or 0.1%, as of 12:29 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher.
If the S&P 500 finishes the day at a record, it would mark the latest time the U.S. stock market has powered past what appeared to be a debilitating set of worries. Most recently, those concerns centered on what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates, whether too many dollars are flowing into artificial-intelligence technology and if sharp drops for cryptocurrencies would bleed over into other markets.
Renewed hopes for a cut to interest rates by the Fed at its meeting next week helped stocks recover those losses, which included some of their worst days since their sell-off during April. So did a continuing parade of companies saying they're making bigger profits than analysts had expected.
Ulta Beauty helped lead the market on Friday and jumped 13.2% after the retailer reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than expected. CEO Kecia Steelman said its customers are broadly feeling pressure, but Ulta saw growth across its categories, particularly in e-commerce. It raised its forecast for revenue over the full year.
Another encouraging signal for the holiday shopping season came from Victoria’s Secret & Co. It delivered a milder loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected, and it likewise raised its forecast for sales over the full year. Its stock rallied 11.5%.
Warner Bros. Discovery was also strong and rose 2.3%. Netflix said it would buy Warner Bros. for $72 billion in cash and stock following its pending split from Discovery Global.
The deal for the company behind HBO Max, “Casablanca” and “Harry Potter” is not a sure thing, though. It could raise fears at the U.S. government about too much industry power residing at Netflix. Shares of Netflix initially fell more than 5% after the deal was announced, then briefly erased all of the loss before falling again, by 3.2%.
Paramount Skydance, which earlier had been seen as a front-runner to buy Warner Bros., fell 7.6%.
Also on the losing end of Wall Street was SoFi Technologies. The financial technology company fell 7.2% to $27.73 after saying it would add $1.5 billion worth of its stock into the market in order to raise cash. It's selling the stock at a price of $27.50 per share.
The U.S. stock market broadly has been much quieter this week, a respite following earlier weeks of sharp and scary swings.
After some back and forth, the widespread expectation among traders is that the Fed will cut its main interest rate next week in hopes of shoring up the slowing U.S. job market. If it does, that would be the third cut of the year.
Investors love lower interest rates because they boost prices for investments and can juice the economy. The downside is that they can worsen inflation, which is stubbornly remaining above the Fed’s 2% target.
Economic reports released on Friday did little to change expectations for a coming cut. One said that an underlying measure of inflation that the Fed prefers to use was at 2.8% in September, exactly as economists expected.
A separate report said U.S. consumers appear to be downgrading their expectations for inflation coming in the near future. They're now forecasting 4.1% inflation for the year ahead, down from their forecast of 4.5% last month, according to the University of Michigan.
That's the lowest such reading since January, which is important because heightened expectations for inflation can create a vicious cycle that only worsens inflation.
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.13% from 4.11% late Thursday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across much of Europe and rose in Asia Friday.
Germany’s DAX returned 0.6%, and South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.8% for two of the world’s bigger gains.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.1% after data showed household spending in Japan fell 3.0% in October from a year earlier. It was the sharpest drop since January 2024. Japanese markets have been shaky recently after the Bank of Japan hinted that hikes to interest rates may be coming.
AP Writer Teresa Cerojano contributed.
Options trader Joseph D'Arrigo works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top right, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top right, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders pass by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
