The White House has threatened to ban reporters and photographers employed by the Associated Press (AP) from attending an event if they news organization does not recognize President Donald Trump’s preferred identity for the Atlantic Gulf.
On Tuesday, AP Executive Order Julie Pace said the outlet was informed by White House officials that if the news organization “did not align its editorial standards” with Trump’s executive order renaming the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America,” the organization “would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office.”
The AP was, indeed, banned from attending Trump’s signing of an executive order within the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday, the agency said.
“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism. 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,” Pace said.
Trump signed an executive order last month, renaming the body of water that sits between Mexico and the United States. It was not clear why Trump believes he has the unilateral authority to rename the geographic region, which is considered international waters outside the scope of the United States’ jurisdiction.
Guidance published by the AP in January said the agency does occasionally refer to geographic places by more than two names — the Gulf of California is also known as the Sea of Cortez, and the AP uses those names interchangeably — but has declined to call the Atlantic Gulf by the “Gulf of America” per Trump’s demand.
It wasn’t clear why the AP has refused to identify the Atlantic Gulf by both names, as the agency regularly updates its style book throughout the year. The AP Style Book is referred to by the outlet’s reporters when writing news articles, and is intended to promote clarity and uniformity across its news stories. Many news organizations in the United States, including AP clients, often utilize the AP Style Book in their own newsrooms.
