A top White House official said Friday that the White House has barred all Associated Press reporters from the Oval Office as well as a formal press conference earlier this week.
The White House says it will open up AP’s spot in the White House press pool to other reporters instead. The White House has announced that it will instead open AP’s spot in the White House Press Pool to other journalists.
Taylor Budowich, deputy chief of staff at the White House, wrote: “The Associated Press continues its blatant disregard of the legal name change of the Gulf of America.” This decision not only causes division, but also exposes Associated Press’ commitment towards misinformation. The First Amendment protects their irresponsible, dishonest reporting, but it doesn’t guarantee their access to restricted spaces like the Oval Office or Air Force One. The space will be made available to thousands of journalists who were previously barred from accessing these areas. Associated Press photographers and journalists will maintain their credentials at the White House complex.”
The AP has a representative who is a part of the White House Press Pool, i.e. the group of journalists, videographers, and photographers that cover the president every day and accompany him when he leaves the White House grounds. Local newspapers rely on the AP and other syndicated outlets to cover news around the world as local newsrooms have been reduced in staff. The AP has approximately 4 billion readers of its news each day. It also employs journalists in over 100 countries.
The AP Style Guide that many newsrooms follow across the nation published an update Jan. 23 two days after President Trump signed his executive orders renaming Gulf of Mexico. The AP style guide noted that the order of Mr. Trump only has authority in the United States and that other countries do not have to acknowledge the change. According to the wire service’s guide, as an international agency “the AP has to ensure that place names are easily recognizable for all audiences.”
In his executive orders, Mr. Trump also changed the name of Alaska’s Mt. Denali is now Mount McKinley. AP stated that it would refer it to Mount McKinley as it is “located solely within the United States.” They added that “as President, Trump has the power to change federal geographic names within the United States.”
The White House Correspondents Association (WHCA), which represents hundreds reporters who cover the White House criticized the White House for barring AP journalists from a press conference on Thursday with Indian Prime Minister NarendraModi and President Trump.
The WHCA stated that “the White House’s decision barring Associated Press reporters from today’s press conference with Prime Minister Modi and President Trump is outrageous and a deep disappointment escalation of a situation already unacceptable.” Let me be clear. The White House wants to curtail the press freedoms that are enshrined within our Constitution. They have publicly admitted to restricting events in order to punish a media outlet for not using the government’s preferred words.
The WHCA said that the White House decision was a “textbook breach of the First Amendment and the President’s executive order on ending federal censorship and freedom of speech.”
Julie Pace, AP’s executive editor, also called the White House decision a “blatant violation of the First Amendment” and urged Trump’s administration to “stop this practice in the strongest possible terms.”
Pace wrote: “This is the third day AP journalists have been banned from covering the President — first as a pool member, and now at a formal news conference. This is an incredible disservice for the billions who rely upon the Associated Press to provide nonpartisan news.”
The White House announcement on Friday did not make it clear whether AP would be excluded from events that have more access, such as the Trump-Modi press conference.
Five newspapers in New York founded the AP in 1846 to cover the Mexican-American War and share the costs.
