MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

AP reporter banned from White House coverage over Gulf renaming

A global news agency should “ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences,” The Associated Press insisted (Image: Google Map)

A representative from the 178-year-old Associated Press (AP) news service was denied access to a White House event on Tuesday given the outlet's failure to adopt the name “Gulf of America” in reference to that portion of the Caribbean Sea previously known as “Gulf of Mexico” but renamed by US President Donald Trump shortly after his Jan. 20, 2025, inauguration.

According to AP's Editor-in-Chief Julie Pace, the Republican administration warned the largest news agency in the country - founded on May 22, 1846, by five New York City daily newspapers to share the cost of covering the Mexican-American War - that restrictions were to ensue for not complying with Government guidelines. Hence, the AP criticized the move as a violation of First Amendment rights. The White House Correspondents Association and the National Press Club also underscored the need for press freedom.

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Chief Elon Musk has long undertaken a campaign against “legacy media” which he insists are biased and non-credible. He also claims that social platforms such as X - which he owns - are the news services of the 21st century.

After Trump's executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico, the AP stated it would continue to use the original name because Trump's measure was “only valid within the United States” and therefore a global news agency should “ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.” In his executive order, Trump also renamed North America's tallest peak in Alaska, Denali, back to Mount McKinley.

“As a global news organization, The Associated Press informs billions of people around the world every day with factual, nonpartisan journalism,” the AP also pointed out. “It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism.”

Trump, who announced during the weekend that Feb. 9 would be the first “Gulf of America Day,” gave the Department of the Interior 30 days to take “all appropriate action” to adopt the change.

White House Correspondents Association President Eugene Daniels said his organization supported AP's stance. “In the relationship between the press and the Office of the President, coverage and standards are entirely in the purview of individual organizations,” he explained. “The White House cannot dictate how news organizations report the news, nor should it penalize working journalists because it is unhappy with their editors’ decisions. The move by the administration to bar a reporter from The Associated Press from an official event open to news coverage today is unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, the Washington DC headquartered National Press Club stressed that Tuesday's actions by the White House were “a direct attack on press freedom” because “no administration gets to decide how journalists do their jobs.”