Posted on 02/12/2025 12:22:41 PM PST by Signalman
President Donald Trump is holding media outlets accountable for refusing to abide by his executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. He even shut one of the world’s biggest news sources out of a Tuesday evening news conference.
News outlets and private companies alike have rushed to insert the body of water’s new name into their lexicon. During an earnings call earlier this month, Chevron cited the Gulf of America while speaking about its offshore drilling activities. The Google and Apple map apps both display the Gulf of America.
In order to receive access to White House press briefings, the Trump administration has ordered outlets to begin using the phrase in their coverage. That didn’t sit well with the Associated Press; now, they no longer have a seat in the White House.
“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,” said Julie Pace, the executive editor of AP, according to the Western Journal.
“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” Pace said. “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.”
“Today our @AP White House reporter was denied access to the Oval Office because the Associated Press recognizes the international body of water on our southern coastline as the Gulf of Mexico, while acknowledging President Donald Trump’s order to rename it the Gulf of America,” AP correspondent Tara Copp posted on X.
The AP, one of the world’s most widely recognized sources of journalism, defended its decision to abide by the body of water’s old name.
“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,” its style guide explained, saying the AP “will refer to [the Gulf of Mexico] by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.” The AP’s justification is that the gulf has carried the Gulf of Mexico name for “more than 400 years” and that other countries and international bodies do not have to recognize the name change.
“Punishing journalists for not adopting state-mandated terminology is an alarming attack on press freedom,” the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression added. “That’s viewpoint discrimination, and it’s unconstitutional. President Trump has the authority to change how the U.S. government refers to the Gulf. But he cannot punish a news organization for using another term.”
For resisting the change, AP reporters missed the opportunity to hear President Trump and Elon Musk explain some of the federal government’s most antiquated systems while together in the Oval Office. Musk took several minutes to reveal how the government’s retirement system cannot handle more than 10,000 applications per month and requires the use of paper records stored in a byzantine former limestone mine.
In his January executive order establishing the Gulf of America, President Trump wrote that the gulf “is a vital region for the multi-billion-dollar U.S. maritime industry, providing some of the largest and most impressive ports in the world. The Gulf will continue to play a pivotal role in shaping America’s future and the global economy, and in recognition of this flourishing economic resource and its critical importance to our Nation’s economy and its people, I am directing that it officially be renamed the Gulf of America.”
Petty and stupid. Anti conservative (for the few who still care) and a waste of time.
bttt
I think in four years, Trumps second term is going to be summed up succinctly in the anacronym known as “FAFO”
She said it's a privilege and an honor to be invited into the Oval Office. Not every journalist is just extended this invite. The AP refused to acknowledge or agree with the reality that the US government officially considers the body of water formerly called the "Gulf of Mexico" as "Gulf of America".
There are plenty of news organizations that are happy to acknowledge a new reality and a name change. Why is the administration obligated to invite to the Oval Office those who won't acknowledge the Presidents policies as being legitimate?
i can't do her justice but here is the briefing: https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1eaKbWdlPdZGX
I like Trump but the “Gulf of America” thing is stupid.
I don’t remember them having a problem with being made to call biological men “ women,” or having to refer to a man as “she” even though it totally confused readers and distorted their understanding of what was being reported.
That's a laugh!!!
When did refusing to extend a privilege become a punishment?
The name change invalidates a drilling ban the rats pushed through. There is a reason for everything Trump does.
Prepare for the onslaught of those accusing you of being a “NEVER TRUMPER”!!! (usually in caps and with a LOT of venom).
I don’t have access to to the Oval Office, yet I was able to hear and see, in real time, everything that AP says that were not given the opportunity to hear.
They could have streamed the event on a whole host of different websites and they would not have “missed the opportunity to hear President Trump and Elon Musk explain……”
Bunch of disingenous hacks.
“There is a reason for everything Trump does.”
I think people believe he is an overgrown brat and an attention getter and has no other purpose when he does things like this
They are wrong
It is but it is a psychological thing intended to cause a furor among the cancel culture base of the Democratic party.
It will send enough of them into a snit that their congressmen will get a pile of complaints to field, and some Dems will be forced into standing up for the old name, which keeps them from wrapping themselves in the US flag like they did with J6.
It pushes them off message.
Dems used to do something similar by jacking around with the Pledge of Allegiance, to enrage the old school Republicans, and get the furor to derail the GOP from using airtime to discuss important matters.
Emotionally speaking, it appears petty, but it certainly restores an attitude adjustment into marketing a new era for America, and a way back for returning American pride and strength to Americans, after a crushing view of herself under Obama’s Third Term of the Biden|Media warfare.
Trump’s true base appreciates it.
Media outlets need to speak the truth, Our spokesperson took the CNN gal Caitlin Collins to the woodshed on this question.
One of Biden’s last acts was an offshore drilling ban. Trump’s first fight is to undo it.
“Biden used his powers under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to ban offshore drilling not only in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, but also along the entire Atlantic Coast and the Pacific coasts of California, Oregon and Washington. The protections even extended to part of Alaska’s Bering Sea.”
“ban offshore drilling not only in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico”
If it’s the gulf of “America” doesn’t that circumvent bidens ban on drilling in the gulf?
+1 she took CNN to the woodshed on that question.
For the first time we are cramming sh@t sandwiches down our enemies throats. Can life get any better than this?
Besides, there are plenty of legacy media sources still in the WH briefing room who are part of the AP. So it's not like the AP doesn't have someone in there.
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