AP says its reporter barred from Oval Office over agency not using 'Gulf of America'

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The Associated Press (AP) rebuked the White House on Tuesday after one of its reporters was barred from covering an executive order signing in the Oval Office.

"Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office," Julie Pace, executive editor of the AP, said in a statement.

When the AP declined to comply, the reporter was blocked from attending the event, she said.

"It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism," said Pace. "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 White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) called the decision "unacceptable" and urged the Trump administration to "immediately change course.”

"The White House cannot dictate how news organizations report the news, nor should it penalize working journalists because it is unhappy with their editors’ decisions," WHCA President Eugene Daniels said in a statement.

The White House did not immediately comment on the incident.