DOMINANT ANGLE
La Paz is gauging this Washington media showdown in light of its own dependence on Washington, as President Rodrigo Paz is simultaneously negotiating support deemed "fundamental" with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
According to CNN en Español, President Trump's veto targets three media outlets — CNN, MS NOW, and Politico — and threatens the presidential pool system established since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- 02
Brújula Digital reports that four American TV channels have come out in defense of CNN and the two other media outlets targeted by the White House veto.
- 03
On Monday, September 21, President Rodrigo Paz met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, who described the bilateral relationship as fundamental for reforms and IMF support.
ANALYSIS
La Paz, September 22, 2026. The crisis between Donald Trump and a portion of the American press is having a particular resonance in Bolivia, where President Rodrigo Paz has just increased his meetings in Washington. According to Brújula Digital, four American television channels have come to the defense of CNN, MS NOW, and Politico after the presidential veto that banned them from accessing the White House since last weekend.
The veto, reported by CNN en Español in its daily news review on Monday, September 21, is threatening a nearly century-old system: the presidential pool established under Franklin D. Roosevelt, which allows a small group of journalists to represent all accredited press. CNN, MS NOW, and Politico have since filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Washington, invoking the First Amendment, with a hearing scheduled for Wednesday, September 23.
The issue is coming at a sensitive time for La Paz. On the same Monday, September 21, Rodrigo Paz began his meeting schedule in the United States with an interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, focused on exports, security, and the El Niño phenomenon. Rubio described the relationship with Bolivia as fundamental to the reforms undertaken by La Paz and to the support of the International Monetary Fund. This coinciding calendar - the press crisis in Washington and Bolivian negotiations with the same administration - is not going unnoticed by the local press, which is treating both issues in parallel without explicitly linking them.
The Bolivian coverage remains secondary: neither CNN en Español nor Brújula Digital has dedicated an in-depth article to the veto issue, which appears as just one point among others in a list of global news or on the sidelines of domestic news deemed a priority - notably the change in the Bolivian vice presidency. For La Paz, the episode mainly illustrates the fragility of the American system of press-power relations, to be observed with caution as long as Washington remains an indispensable partner for the economic reforms and international financial support expected by the Paz government.
SOURCES (2)
- Brújula DigitalMEDIUM
