The media can’t help themselves. They continue to lose trust with the American people, and at this point it’s almost like they’re doing it on purpose. A day doesn’t go by when a news outlet has to correct a piece of their journalism that has an error in it.

Americans have learned to become more vigilant when they read the news. They know not to trust everything they hear without fact-checking it first. Yet the media still seems to think they can slip anything past those who consume their content.

If the media wants people to take them seriously again and to trust them more, then they have to learn to tell the truth. But based off a new article from the Associated Press (AP), it doesn’t look like they’re ready to gain anyone’s trust anytime soon.

Associated Press Pulls Back Misstep Over Gabbard’s Trump-Putin Claim

In a swift about-face, the Associated Press yanked an article off its pages on Monday after it wrongly pinned a quote on U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The piece had claimed Gabbard described President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as “very good friends,” a statement that turned out to be a mix-up.

The AP issued a correction, admitting the error stemmed from a misfire in its reporting. “The Associated Press has withdrawn its story about U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard saying President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘are very good friends.’ Gabbard was talking about Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The AP will publish a corrected version of the story,” the outlet announced after scrapping the original.

The @AP is total trash. DNI @TulsiGabbard was referring to PM Modi & President Trump and this is the headline they publish.

This is why no one trusts the maliciously incompetent and purposefully bias media. If this isn’t a clear example of pushing a solely political narrative,… pic.twitter.com/1chFZQqTEd

— Alexa Henning (@alexahenning) March 18, 2025

The flubbed article stemmed from remarks Gabbard made while visiting India in her role as the nation’s top intelligence official. Early reports, including a headline spotted online, blared, “Gabbard Says Trump And Putin Are ‘Very Good Friends’ Focused On Strengthening Ties.” In reality, Gabbard’s comments—delivered during an interview with India’s NDTV—centered on Trump’s rapport with Modi, not Putin.

The AP’s revised take honed in on Gabbard’s actual focus: Trump’s push to broker peace in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. “Under the previous administration, during which this war began, there was no effort, there was no effort at all towards peace. There was no effort to have direct dialogue with Putin and with Russia to try to bring about an end to this war. So already in a very short period of time, President Trump has made much more progress towards peace than any effort that has occurred by anyone, previously,” Gabbard said, as quoted in the updated AP piece. “I’m sure that President Trump will have a very productive conversation with Putin, once again, rooted in his unwavering commitment to peace.”

This slip-up could widen the rift between the Trump White House and the Associated Press, a relationship already stretched thin. The administration has locked AP journalists and photographers out of the press pool that shadows the president and barred the outlet from select events. The tension traces back to the AP’s refusal to tweak its style guide to reflect the “Gulf of America,” a title Trump slapped on what used to be the Gulf of Mexico via executive order.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has stood firm on the administration’s stance. “It is a privilege to cover this White House. It’s a privilege to be the White House Press Secretary. And nobody has the right to go into the Oval Office and ask the president of the United States questions,” she declared last month when pressed on the AP blacklist.

“I was very upfront in my briefing on day one that if we feel that there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable,” she added. “It is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America, and I’m not sure why news outlets don’t want to call it that, but that is what it is.”

For now, the AP’s retraction marks another chapter in its rocky dance with the Trump administration. But it also shows why the American people continue to distrust the media due to the outpouring of lies that they embed in their stories and reporting.

Do you trust the mainstream media? If not, what will it take for you to trust them again? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!