The White House barred an Associated Press reporter from covering an event with President Donald Trump and adviser Elon Musk on Tuesday, in what the longtime newswire said was punishment for its style guide not adopting the president’s new “Gulf of America” label.
“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” the AP said in a statement. “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.”
The Associated Press is a permanent member of the so-called “pool” that provides round-the-clock coverage of the president. As a newswire, stories written by AP reporters are published in newspapers and on websites across the US and world.
The AP’s style guide is also the basis for many broadcasting and news services, including Bloomberg News. In a Jan. 23 guidance note, the agency said that the “Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years” and that the organization would “refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.”
The White House Correspondents Association, which represents hundreds of journalists covering the presidency, issued a statement calling on the White House to “immediately change course.”
“The White House cannot dictate how news organizations report the news, nor should it penalize working journalists because it is unhappy with their editors’ decisions,” WHCA President Eugene Daniels said. “The move by the administration to bar a reporter from The Associated Press from an official event open to news coverage today is unacceptable.”
During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly barred media outlets from his events over their coverage. During his first term, Trump officials sought to strip press passes from reporters but relented after a federal court sided with members of the media.
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