The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) condemned the Trump administration for a second time on Thursday following the Associated Press’ expulsion from the president’s reporter pool due to an editorial decision.
“The White House’s decision to bar Associated Press reporters from today’s press conference with President Trump and Prime Minister Modi is outrageous and a deeply disappointing escalation of an already unacceptable situation,” Eugene Daniels, the association’s president, wrote in a statement.
“Let me be clear: the White House is seeking to curtail the press freedoms enshrined in our Constitution, and has admitted publicly they are restricting access to events to punish a news outlet for not advancing the government’s preferred language.”
The Associated Press said they were warned about the removal on Tuesday by a White House official who said the administration took issue with the publication’s decision to use the term Gulf of Mexico instead of the Gulf of America following President Trump’s recent executive order issuing a name change.
“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,” Executive Editor Julie Pace said following the incident.
“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.”
The outlet, which establishes editorial standards for journalism and serves as a wire for millions of news sites worldwide, said 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.
“The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen,” AP wrote in its guidance issued in late January.
“As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.”
Despite the memo, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the administration’s stance not to admit AP, declaring it was a “privilege” to gain access to the president’s events and arguing that press invitations can be revoked at any time for any reason.
The WHCA is now calling on the Trump administration to “change course” labeling the White House decision “viewpoint discrimination.”
“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 his 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.”
