PRESS REVIEW – Wednesday, October 1, 2025: The American press is covering the US government shutdown, with many focusing on the blame game between Republicans and Democrats. Also, the Taliban have shut down the internet, isolating millions of women and girls. Next, an AI "actress" is changing the film industry as we know it. Finally, cops get a surprise when they stop a car with no one behind the wheel.
The US government shutdown is all over the US papers. Right-wing tabloid New York Post is quick to blame the Democrats on its front page. The Washington Post headlines with "shutdown begins amid blame, acrimony". The front page of The New York Times, meanwhile, calls the shutdown a "messy standoff".
Beyond the front pages, papers are discussing how Republicans and Democrats are pointing the finger at each other. PBS is looking at the result of the public relations blame game. The New York Times looks at all the political stunts and attention-grabbing props. Meanwhile, NPR notes that the Trump administration is using taxpayer dollars to blame the Democrats. Pop-up messages across the websites of federal departments read: "The radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people". The Washington Post says that no party will come out with their image enhanced, and that people will hardly remember this episode by the time it comes to the next election. Finally, The Atlantic has a slightly different angle. It is discussing Trump's Grand Plan to finish the job that the Department of Government Efficiency started.
From one shutdown to another, Afghanistan has been cast into darkness after the Taliban shut down the internet. The Washington Post says that the internet blackout has paralysed the country. The BBC notes that the internet was the last lifeline for Afghan women, who relied on the web to compensate for the Taliban's restrictions on female education, work and access to public spaces. The Guardian has an opinion piece written by an Afghan journalist based in Australia, who argues that the blackout is a calculated effort to consolidate power and silence dissent.
Meanwhile, the latest development in artificial intelligence is spooking Hollywood and Vanity Fair. Tilly Norwood is an up-and-coming actress who is entirely AI-generated. Her creators have even said that talent agencies have offered to represent her, something which has obviously angered many in Hollywood, including actors' unions. The Guardian says that although the creation of the AI actress is incredibly worrying, so far it is just "pointlessly creepy and relentlessly unfunny".
Finally, AP reports that police officers in California were bamboozled when they stopped a car for doing an illegal U-turn, only to realise it had no one behind the wheel.
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