WH restricts AP access to Air Force One as 'Gulf of America' rift deepens

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By Bloomberg News

 

The White House extended its restriction of access by the Associated Press to Air Force One and reiterated that the news organization is barred from Oval Office events because of how it uses President Donald Trump’s new “Gulf of America” label. 

On Friday afternoon, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich said the administration would seek to replace its reporters with those from other outlets in the Oval Office and on the presidential plane.

 

The White House first barred the Associated Press from a Trump press event in the Oval Office on Tuesday. It prevented a journalist from the newswire from attending an open press conference Thursday with the US leader and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

 

“While their right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected by the First Amendment, it does not ensure their privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One,” Budowich said. “Going forward, that space will now be opened up to the many thousands of reporters 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 said.

 

The Associated Press has long been a member of the so-called “pool” that provides around-the-clock coverage of the president. As a newswire, stories written by AP reporters are published in newspapers and on websites across the US and world. 

 

The AP’s style guide is also the basis for many broadcasting and news services, including Bloomberg News. In a Jan. 23 guidance note, the agency said that the “Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years” and that the organization would “refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.”

 

The White House Correspondents Association, which represents hundreds of journalists covering the presidency, issued a statement Thursday evening, after the administration prevented AP’s journalist from attending the Trump-Modi press conference, calling on the White House to “immediately reverse course and restore access to AP journalists.”

 

“Free speech and a free press are among the defining values of American democracy and must be preserved and protected,” WHCA President Eugene Daniels said. “Our pool system is critical to ensure all of our members can cover the presidency, and prohibiting journalists from access because of their editorial decisions is viewpoint discrimination.”

 

During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly barred media outlets from his events over their coverage. During his first term, Trump officials sought to strip press passes from reporters but relented after a federal court sided with members of the media.