White house is denying AP reporters access to reporting

Because of language regulation

Trump administration takes action against reporters

Donald Trump has a difficult relationship with the media – especially if they do not agree. An AP reporter is now clearly noticeable.

One day after the exclusion of an Associated Press (AP) reporter from the reporting from the White House, access has again been denied access. On Wednesday (local time), the AP reporter was prevented from reporting the second day in a row to report on his medium of the swearing-in of the new intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard.

When asked about the repeated restriction, said the press spokeswoman of the White House, Karoline Leavitt, the Trump government wanted to protect itself from the “lies” of the media. “We reserve the right to decide who is allowed to go to the Oval Office” Leavitt from journalists on Wednesday.

To ask the US president questions should be understood as a “invitation” and not as a right. “If we feel that lies are spread in this room, we will proceed,” said Leavitt. In doing so, she pointed out that it was “a fact” that the waters off the coast of Louisiana’s Golf of America “. “And I’m not sure why the news agencies don’t want to call him that, but that’s how it is.”

On Tuesday, the AP editor-in-chief Julie Pace announced that her reporter had been “prevented” to participate in the signing of Trump’s decree in the Oval Office. The reason is that the news agency in its reporting does not adhere to the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico into “Golf of America” ​​that US President Donald Trump announced.

“It is alarming that the Trump administration AP punishes AP for its independent journalism,” it said in her statement. “To restrict our access to the Oval Office based on the content of the AP language, not only seriously affects the public’s access to independent messages, but simply violates the first constitutional additive,” it can be read.

The correspondent association of the White House emphasized in a statement: “The White House cannot dictate, as news media report, and it should not punish individual journalists because the decisions of their superiors do not agree.” The association stands alongside the AP and calls up the White House to correct its course quickly.

AP is the largest news agency in the USA. Your linguistic set of rules has been part of the standard reading for news editors and company offices for years. To approach the “Gulf of Mexico”, the editorial team said in the style guide that Trump’s arrangement only applies within the United States. However, the Gulf of Mexico has been carrying this name for more than 400 years.

“The Associated Press will designate the Gulf of Mexico with its original name and at the same time recognize the new names chosen by Trump,” she said. As a global news agency that spreads news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geographical information are understandable for all target groups.

Trump has a long tradition of feuds with media organizations and individual reporters. During his first term, for example, he had the CNN reporter in the White House, Jim Acosta, withdrawn the microphone during a press conference after the journalist had asked several critical inquiries.