Trump Punishes The Associated Press For Not Calling The Gulf Of Mexico 'The Gulf Of America'
The White House told AP to call the body of water the Gulf of America or they would be banned from an event at the Oval Office.
The Associated Press was shut out of an executive order signing on Tuesday because of their refusal to call the body of water to the west of Florida the āGulf of America.ā
āIt is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,ā Julie Pace, the executive editor of AP, said in a statement. āLimiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of APās speech not only severely impedes the publicās access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.ā
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The White House informed AP on Tuesday that if the news agency did not start referring to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, they would be banned from accessing an event in the Oval Office. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In late January, AP said in a statement that President Donald Trumpās executive order to call it the Gulf of America āonly carries authorityā in the United States.
AP said they would continue to refer to the body of water as the Gulf of Mexico while also acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen for it.
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āAs a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognisable to all audiences,ā AP said in the statement.
AP said there are other places they refer to by two names, like the Gulf of California, which is its name in the United States, while Mexico refers to it as the Sea of Cortez.
However, after Trump signed an executive order to revert the name of North Americaās tallest peak, Denali in Alaska, to Mount McKinley, AP followed along because Mount McKinley is only in the United States, and āTrump has the authority to change federal geographical names within the country.ā
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