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This is a perfectly fine hill for the AP to die on
The wire service’s reporters have been barred from White House events. Next time, it could be you.
https://bsky.app/profile/carlquintanilla.bsky.social/post/3li7nm7mzoc2a
Link to tweet
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/02/14/ap-white-house-trump-gulf-america/
The spat relates to perhaps the most trolling executive order issued by President Donald Trump, in which he put pen to paper on the “Gulf of America.” His rationale: “The area formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico has long been an integral asset to our once burgeoning Nation and has remained an indelible part of America.” The AP, a world leader in English style and usage, decided not to change its guidance on the matter, citing the facts that the United States and Mexico share gulf borders and that the body of water has maintained its name for more than 400 years.
Get in line, AP! According to a letter from AP Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Julie Pace, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday warned of access restrictions if the wire service “did not immediately align its editorial standards” with the gulf-name mandate. The AP held firm, and the White House then blocked a reporter from an Oval Office event and later blocked another reporter from an event in the Diplomatic Room, according to the letter.
The blocking of AP access continued throughout the week, including events at the White House on Thursday and a presidential trip on Friday. A White House official on Friday tweeted that the wire service’s “privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One,” would go to “the many thousands of reporters who have been barred from covering these intimate areas of the administration.” The AP has been a member of the 13-person presidential press pool for more than a century.
How outraged is the White House press corps regarding this naked violation of the First Amendment? Not sufficiently: In her press briefing Wednesday, Leavitt faced questions from only one reporter — CNN’s Kaitlan Collins — about the matter. As Leavitt recited her position, she might as well have been stomping on a copy of the Bill of Rights under the lectern: “If we feel that there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable. And it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the ‘Gulf of America,’” Leavitt said, noting that major tech firms have acknowledged the change......
Several organizations have issued statements deploring the White House’s actions, including the White House Correspondents’ Association, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and PEN America. The New York Times has backed the AP in “objecting to governmental retribution for editorial decisions that the government disagrees with.” And a Post spokesperson said the AP’s access is “central for all journalistic organizations, including The Washington Post, in serving millions of Americans with fact-based, independent journalism each day.”....
And there’s a constituency of folks expressing wonder at AP’s topographical choices:
On this particular hill, we have the freedom to make editorial choices without government intervention and manipulation. It’s a fine hill to die on.
Get in line, AP! According to a letter from AP Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Julie Pace, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday warned of access restrictions if the wire service “did not immediately align its editorial standards” with the gulf-name mandate. The AP held firm, and the White House then blocked a reporter from an Oval Office event and later blocked another reporter from an event in the Diplomatic Room, according to the letter.
The blocking of AP access continued throughout the week, including events at the White House on Thursday and a presidential trip on Friday. A White House official on Friday tweeted that the wire service’s “privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One,” would go to “the many thousands of reporters who have been barred from covering these intimate areas of the administration.” The AP has been a member of the 13-person presidential press pool for more than a century.
How outraged is the White House press corps regarding this naked violation of the First Amendment? Not sufficiently: In her press briefing Wednesday, Leavitt faced questions from only one reporter — CNN’s Kaitlan Collins — about the matter. As Leavitt recited her position, she might as well have been stomping on a copy of the Bill of Rights under the lectern: “If we feel that there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable. And it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the ‘Gulf of America,’” Leavitt said, noting that major tech firms have acknowledged the change......
Several organizations have issued statements deploring the White House’s actions, including the White House Correspondents’ Association, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and PEN America. The New York Times has backed the AP in “objecting to governmental retribution for editorial decisions that the government disagrees with.” And a Post spokesperson said the AP’s access is “central for all journalistic organizations, including The Washington Post, in serving millions of Americans with fact-based, independent journalism each day.”....
And there’s a constituency of folks expressing wonder at AP’s topographical choices:
Link to tweet
On this particular hill, we have the freedom to make editorial choices without government intervention and manipulation. It’s a fine hill to die on.
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