United States President Donald Trump’s administration has again blocked The Associated Press from attending a White House event amid a dispute over the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, the news organisation has said.
The AP said on Thursday that the White House prevented one of its reporters from attending Trump’s news conference with visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The AP said the incident came after its journalists were barred from an executive order signing ceremony and the swearing-in of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
AP Executive Editor Julie Pace described the move as a “deeply troubling escalation” in the Trump administration’s efforts to punish the news organisation for its editorial decisions.
“It is a plain violation of the First Amendment, and we urge the Trump administration in the strongest terms to stop this practice,” Pace said in a statement.
“This is now the third day AP reporters have been barred from covering the president – first as a member of the pool, and now from a formal press conference – an incredible disservice to the billions of people who rely on The Associated Press for nonpartisan news.”
The Trump administration and the AP have been at loggerheads over the news organisation’s decision to continue using the “Gulf of Mexico” despite the US president issuing an executive order last month to change the body of water’s name to the “Gulf of America”.
The AP has argued that retaining the original name is appropriate as Trump’s order only carries authority in the US and the gulf partly resides within the territory of Mexico and Cuba.
On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the Trump administration would hold media outlets accountable for spreading “lies.”
“It is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America. And I am not sure why news outlets don’t want to call it that,” Leavitt said, adding that the name had been updated in the official Geographic Names Server and recognised by private companies such as Apple and Google.
Eugene Daniels, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, on Thursday condemned the Trump administration’s latest decision to deny the AP access as “outrageous”.
“The attempted government censorship of a free press risks a chilling effect on journalists doing their job without fear or favor on behalf of the American people,” Daniels said in a statement.
“This is a textbook violation of not only the First Amendment, but the president’s own executive order on freedom of speech and ending federal censorship. We again call on the White House to immediately reverse course and restore access to AP journalists.”
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