The White House blocked an Associated Press reporter from an event in the Oval Office on Tuesday after demanding the news agency alter its style on the Gulf of Mexico, which President Trump has ordered renamed the Gulf of America.
The reporter tried to enter the White House event as usual Tuesday afternoon and was turned away, AP executives said. The highly unusual ban, which Trump officials had threatened earlier Tuesday unless the AP changed the style on the Gulf, could have constitutional free speech implications.
Julie Pace, senior vice president and executive editor of The Associated Press, called the administration91裸聊视频檚 move unacceptable.
91裸聊视频淚t is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,91裸聊视频� Pace said 91裸聊视频淟imiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP91裸聊视频檚 speech not only severely impedes the public91裸聊视频檚 access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.91裸聊视频�
The Trump administration made no immediate announcements about the move, and there was no indication any other journalists were affected. Trump has long had an adversarial relationship with the media. On Friday, the administration ejected a second group of news organizations
AP style is not only used by the agency. The AP Stylebook is relied on by thousands of journalists and other writers globally.
Demands by a president that a news organization comply with an order to change its content would seem to run counter to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which bars the government from impeding the freedom of the press.
Before his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump announced plans to change the Gulf of Mexico91裸聊视频檚 name to the 91裸聊视频淕ulf of America91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频� and signed an executive order to do so as soon as he was in office. Mexico91裸聊视频檚 president responded sarcastically and others noted that the name change would probably not affect global usage.
This week, Google Maps began using 91裸聊视频淕ulf of America,91裸聊视频� saying it had a 91裸聊视频渓ongstanding practice91裸聊视频� of following the U.S. government91裸聊视频檚 lead on such matters. The other leading online map provider, Apple Maps, was still using 91裸聊视频淕ulf of Mexico.91裸聊视频�
The AP three days after Trump91裸聊视频檚 inauguration, that it would continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico while noting Trump91裸聊视频檚 decision to rename it as well. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP says it must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.
Trump also decreed that the mountain in Alaska known as Mount McKinley and then by its Indigenous name, Denali, be shifted back to commemorating the 25th president. President Barack Obama had ordered it renamed Denali in 2015.
AP said last month it will use the official name change to Mount McKinley because the area lies solely in the United States and Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names within the country.
