The White House said that the Associated Press will continue to be barred from access to Donald Trump‘s Oval Office events and other coverage at the complex, punishment for the news organizations refusal to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America in its Stylebook.
Taylor Budowich, the White House deputy chief of staff and cabinet secretary, also wrote that the AP would be restricted from travel with the president on Air Force One.
Budowich wrote on X that while the AP’s “right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected by the First Amendment, it does not ensure their privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One. Going forward, that space will now be opened up to the many thousands of reporters who have been barred from covering these intimate areas of the administration. Associate [sic] Press journalists and photographers will retain their credentials to the White House complex.”
But the AP is not being dishonest, nor is it spreading lies of misinformation, as the White House claims. Rather, after Trump issued an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, the AP issued style guidance to retain the original name. The news outlet noted that Trump’s order “only carries authority within the United States. Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change.” The AP said that it would acknowledge the name that Trump had chosen.
The AP, the White House Correspondents’ Association and other press groups have condemned the move.
“It is a plain violation of the First Amendment, and we urge the Trump administration in the strongest terms to stop this practice,” AP executive editor Julie Pace said in a statement on Thursday. An AP correspondent was denied access to an event in the Oval Office again today.
Trump has been threatening and trying to intimidate news outlets, and his FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, has opened investigations into broadcast networks including CBS, NPR, ABC, PBS and NPR.
During his first term, Trump’s White House sought to revoke the hard pass credentials of CNN’s chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta. But a federal judge, appointed by Trump, issued a temporary restraining order to the White House to restore the hard pass, ruling that Acosta’s right to due process had been violated.
