The Associated Press (AP) news agency says its reporters were denied access to an event in the Oval Office because it has not adopted the term “Gulf of America” to refer to the Gulf of Mexico.
On his first day back in office, Trump issued an executive order proclaiming that the Gulf of Mexico will now be referred to as the “Gulf of America”.
“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,” the news agency said in a statement.
“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.”
