The White House has indefinitely banned the journalists of the U.S. news agency Associated Press (AP) from the Oval Office and Air Force One for using the name ‘Gulf of Mexico’ instead of ‘Gulf of America’.
The U.S. president’s chief spokesman, Taylor Budowich, has said on the social networking site X that while AP has a First Amendment right to report “irresponsibly and dishonestly,” that does not give it the right to have “unfettered access to limited spaces like the Oval Office or Air Force One.”
The Associated Press continues to ignore the lawful geographic name change of the Gulf of America. This decision is not just divisive, but it also exposes the Associated Press’ commitment to misinformation. While their right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected…
– Taylor Budowich (@Taylor47) February 14, 2025
“From now on, that space will be open to the many thousands of journalists who have been barred from covering these intimate areas of the Administration. Associated Press journalists and photographers will retain their credentials to the White House complex,” he added.
This comes just hours after the Trump Administration denied a U.S. news agency reporter access to the press conference held between Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The White House already defended the veto of another news agency reporter this week for not using the name ‘Gulf of America’ and questioned why there are media outlets that do not use this geographic designation when there are already companies such as Apple or Google that recognize it.
“If we see the media in this room spreading lies we are going to hold them accountable and it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said at a press conference.
The news agency’s executive editor, Julie Pace, denounced that the White House had asked the media outlet to“align its editorial standards with Trump’s executive order” renaming the Gulf of Mexico.
For its part, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has assured that these “reprisals” against AP“undermine the U.S. president’s stated commitment to freedom of expression“.
“These actions follow a pattern of defamation and criminalization of the press by the current administration and are unacceptable,” CPJ Executive Director Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement Friday.
