(Maire Clayton, Headline USA) The Associated Press was angry after a reporter was blocked from the Oval Office Tuesday after the outlet refused to update its style guidelines.
AP’s Executive Editor Julie Pace expressed her disappointment with the outlet not being allowed.
“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” Pace said in a statement. “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 statement included a link to when the outlet originally announced it would not be following President Donald Trump’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
“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 noted. “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.”
Unlike AP, Apple and Google decided to update to the new title.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about the reporter getting barred from Tuesday’s meeting.
“Nobody has the right to go into the Oval Office and ask the president of the United States questions,” Leavitt said. “That’s an invitation that is given and there are hundreds of outlets on this campus, many of you in this room, who don’t have the privilege of being part of that pool every single day and getting to ask the president questions.”
Leavitt later added she did not understand why some news outlets did not want to update the new name.
Trump also changed Mount Denali to Mount McKinley. However, AP said it would be making that change to its style guide.
