The Associated Press said it was blocked from covering President Donald Trump‘s executive order signing today because it declined to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in its editorial style standards.
Julie Pace, the executive editor of the news agency, said in a statement, “Today 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.”
She added, “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.”
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Trump signed executive orders in an Oval Office appearance this afternoon, in which he was joined by Elon Musk, leading his efforts to slash the size of government.
After Trump signed an executive order last month to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, the AP announced that its Stylebook, widely used throughout the news business, said that it would stick with the old name but still acknowledge the one that Trump has chosen.
“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,” Amanda Bennett, the AP’s vice president of standards and inclusion, wrote.
The AP did say that it would change the name of Alaska’ Denali, the tallest mountain in North America, to Mount McKinley. That was another part of Trump’s executive order.
A White House spokesperson did not return a request for comment.
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