On Feb. 11, news broke that the Associated Press (AP) was barred from the Oval Office following a 4-day dispute with President Donald Trump over the Gulf of Mexico. Following this is a lengthy legal situation, as President Trump is the first U.S. president to bar a news organization from covering him. This leaves many to question whether this is a direct attack on the First Amendment, which covers freedom of press, and what this might mean for journalism in the future.
What is the Associative Press?
The Associated Press is a news organization that spans across the country. They are known for their non-biased journalism and are usually one of the main sources that most newspapers use as a secondary source, the Wright State Guardian included. They were founded in 1846 in New York city, New York and have received several awards when it comes to their journalism.
AP is also known for their style guide handbook for journalism. It is a step-by-step guide on how to write news. This is what got them into a controversy with the president.
President Trump v. AP News
The first public piece of news regarding the feud broke on Feb. 11 when the White House announced that AP News would be barred from the Oval Office in Air Force One. What caused it?
President Trump had an issue with the AP style guide handbook referring to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of Mexico and not the Gulf of America. AP shot back with a response claiming that they were not going to change it because the Gulf is considered an international body of water, and because the AP style book is used by news organizations around the world, so they have to be mindful of the original name.
In a statement, AP spokesperson Amanda Barrett cited that the change would be noted, but will not be fully enforced so international news organizations can use it as a landmark.
“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. 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,” Barret stated.
She then goes on to give examples of other monuments that are labeled as one thing in the style book but are different to others due to their connotations in their countries. One of the main examples she gives is a body of water that the U.S. refers to as the Gulf of California, but Mexico calls it the Sea of Cortez. This difference is noted appropriately in the style book.
Due to AP not changing the style book to reflect Trump's executive order, the news organization has been barred from covering any White House events.
AP News decided to file a lawsuit Feb. 21, citing that the Trump Administration was in direct violation of freedom of press.
“The White House has ordered the AP to use certain words in its coverage or else be barred from accessing events open to the White House press pool, as direct retaliation for the AP’s speech. Defendants’ decision to bar the AP from reporting in the White House press pool and to deny the AP’s access to the Oval Office, Air Force One and other limited areas, as well as other events that have been open to the broader White House press corps, violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The AP’s access to and reporting on the White House as a member of the press pool, and the AP’s own editorial decisions about naming conventions are protected under the First Amendment,” the AP lawyers said in the lawsuit document.
Additionally, AP submitted to a federal judge to ask that they enforce First Amendment rights to allow them back into the pool of reporters at the White House. This request was denied, but strongly encouraged to be rescinded. Since this, Trump and other members of his party have gone on record to air out different grievances with AP and taunt them.
Trump points out his issues with the terms “gender-affirming care” in regards to surgeries performed on transgender individuals and not using the term “illegal immigrants” when referring to people who immigrated to America.
When asked about the lawsuit in an interview with a Fox News correspondent, President Trump called AP “radical left-leaning lunatics," and welcomed the lawsuit.
This event poses a question: what does this mean for journalism as a whole in the future?
The future of journalism
The unprecedented act made it very clear that Trump does not want AP news in the pool of reporters. But how are other news sources handling this?
One of the documents filed with the lawsuit is a letter with 40 signatures with different organizations that utilize AP news’ resources calling for the Trump Administration to lift their ban on AP. Among those is the far-right news organization Newsweek. They later put out a statement about the situation.
“We can understand President Trump’s frustration because the media has often been unfair to him, but Newsmax still supports AP’s right as a private organization to use the language it wants to use in its reporting. We fear a future administration may not like something Newsmax writes and seek to ban us,” a spokesperson for the organization said.
It is important to note that President Trump is the first president to have ever banned a news organization from its pool of reporters.
“This is unprecedented,” Chris Michaels, a political expert, said. “This is a big move by the White House. Barring AP shows that he could potentially do this for other news organizations that he does not like. What's stopping him from not allowing news organizations like CNN or MSNBC? He is currently aligning himself with ideas that have shown time and time again in history to not turn out well."
It has been generally agreed that regardless of whether Trump agrees with AP or not, they should not be banned from reporting inside the Oval Office. One anonymous source commented on this.
“I think that AP should comply [with the name change], he is the president. They are being really petty and showing that they are trying to push an agenda by not changing the name, but President Trump shouldn't make [AP] not allowed to be in the White House. They do have their freedoms"
In that same Fox News interview, Trump claimed that people use AP to attack him. But the fact still stands, news is news regardless of whether you like it or not. Banning independently published bipartisan news sources from covering political events featuring the White House is considered incredibly dangerous.
“I feel like he's using this as a power play. I think it's important that we have news sources like AP in these meetings and speeches to report on the news. You can't rely on most modern news sources nowadays because of how blatant they are with their political affiliation,” Fairborn resident Brook Ayers said. “I only read news from AP because of how much it does not favor one side or the other, and by barring them from participating in these events, it denies the American people nonpartisan news. Which means that in turn the government can control the narrative in news sources. That's how dictatorships start.”
The lawsuit is still ongoing and it is not entirely certain how it will end, but some folks are worried that if there is a negative outcome, it will set a precedent for the future of journalism.
