Trump's 'American Gulf' decree sparks media access standoff
President Donald Trump, shortly after his inauguration, ordered a change in the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the American Gulf. This decision was met with widespread disapproval. Many media outlets, including The Associated Press (AP), continue to use the original name in their reports. In response, Trump devised a way to penalize them.
One of Trump's earliest decisions was renaming the Gulf of Mexico. This decision faced immediate opposition from other countries, arguing that it was made unilaterally, without consulting the other nations bordering this body of water.
The Gulf of Mexico is an international body of water, and renaming it would require the consensus of all bordering countries, including Mexico and Cuba. However, Trump had no intention of seeking anyone's approval.
It's unsurprising that many media outlets still avoid using the term "American Gulf," including the AP. President Trump found a way to "punish" the AP for this stance. He barred the agency's reporter from entering the Oval Office.
"We were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump's executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office. This afternoon AP's reporter was blocked from attending an executive order signing," the agency stated in a release.
"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", the statement added.
The referenced "First Amendment" is a crucial part of the U.S. Constitution, prohibiting the restriction of freedoms related to religion, press, speech, petition, and assembly.
Protest from the White House Correspondents' Association
The exclusion of an AP reporter from participating in an Oval Office event was also protested by Eugene Daniels, the head of the White House Correspondents' Association.
"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. The move by the administration to bar a reporter from the Associated Press from an official event open to news coverage today is unacceptable," Daniels stated.
Daniels further added that the Association "calls on the administration to immediately change course."
