The Associated Press (AP) agency has indefinitely lost access to the Oval office. The reason: his refusal to follow the order of President Donald Trump to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”
“Associated Press continues to ignore the change of legal geographical name of the Gulf of America. This decision is not only divisive, but also exposes Associated Press’s commitment to misinformation, ”said White House Cabinet Chiefer Taylor Budowich, Friday.
“While your right to report irresponsibly and dishonest is protected by the first amendment, it does not guarantee its privilege of access without restrictions on limited spaces, such as the Oval Office and the Air Force One.”
“From now on, that space will open to the thousands of journalists who have been forbidden to cover these intimate areas of the administration,” he continued.
On Tuesday, the AP could not attend Trump’s press conference at the Oval office with Elon Musk after the writing room insisted on calling the Gulf of Mexico by its internationally recognized name. Then they were prohibited from covering their meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.
The Executive Editor of AP, Julie Pace, said it was “a deeply worrying escalation of the continuous efforts of the administration to punish Associated Press for its editorial decisions… it is a clear violation of the first amendment, and we urge the administration to the administration Trump in the most energetic terms to stop this practice. ”
However, on Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Trump’s initial decision, saying: “No one has the right to enter the oval office and ask questions to the president of the United States. That is an invitation that occurs. ”
“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 the media do not want to call it that, but that is what it is,” he added.
In fact, the White House Press Room is seeing new faces during the second Trump administration, which welcomes “new voices in the media” that replace some existing traditional media.
