XPost: alt.journalism.criticism, alt.politics.trump, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.guns
From: yourdime@outlook.com

NEW YORK -- The White House said Wednesday that news organizations that
refuse to use President Donald Trump’s new name for the Gulf of Mexico
were telling “lies” and insisted it would continue to bar Associated Press journalists from presidential events.

Trump has decreed that the international body of water — which borders
Mexico, the United States and other nations — be called the Gulf of
America. In its influential Stylebook, the AP said it would continue to
use Gulf of Mexico, while also noting Trump’s decision, to ensure that
names of geographical features are recognizable around the world.

The White House’s outright attempt at regulating language used by
independent media — and the punitive measures attached to it — mark a
sharp escalation in Trump’s often fraught dealings with news
organizations.

At a regular briefing Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline
Leavitt said that “it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America, and I’m not sure why news outlets don’t want to call it that."

In reality, the body lies partially in waters that don’t belong to the
United States and has been called the Gulf of Mexico for hundreds of
years.

On Tuesday, AP reporters were blocked from attending events in the Oval
Office and the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room. While an AP
reporter was in the White House briefing room Wednesday for Leavitt’s
remarks, they were turned away at a later event in the Oval Office for the swearing in of Tulsi Gabbard as national intelligence director.

Julie Pace, AP’s senior vice president and executive editor, wrote to
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles on Wednesday objecting to the
moves.

“The actions taken by this White House were plainly intended to punish the
AP for the content of its speech,” Pace wrote. “It is among the most basic tenets of the First Amendment that the government cannot retaliate against
the public or the press for what they say.”

The White House pointed out that the AP was allowed into its briefing
Wednesday but continued to take issue with the style of the gulf’s name. “Nobody has the right to go into the Oval Office and ask the president of
the United States questions,” Leavitt said. “We reserve the right to
decide who gets to go into the Oval Office.”

Generally, when the press is permitted to cover White House events where
space is tight, a small pool of journalists are allowed in. The AP, which transmits news to thousands of clients, has traditionally been a part of
that pool in past administrations.

Asked if barring AP reporters was retaliatory, Leavitt said that the
Interior Secretary has codified the name change in official documents and
that “pretty much every other outlet in this room has recognized that body
of water as the Gulf of America.”

The move raised alarms among several advocates for the press. “Barring an
AP journalist from covering an Oval Office event because the AP has not
adopted President Trump’s change of name to what has long been called the
Gulf of Mexico is an affront to the First Amendment,” said noted attorney
Floyd Abrams.

A major consortium of news organizations, the Inter American Press
Association, said Wednesday that the White House move was “an act of
censorship and intimidation that violates the freedom of the press
enshrined in the United States Constitution.”

The president of the IAPA, José Roberto Dutriz, expressed concern about
this measure: “Restricting press coverage and warning against the AP demonstrate a troubling intention to impose official criteria on public interest information, with the threat of reprisals for those who do not comply," said José Roberto Dutriz, CEO and general director of La Prensa Gráfica in El Salvador.

Users of the Google map app in the United States will now see the body of
water referred to as the Gulf of America, the company said. Mexican users
would see “Gulf of Mexico.” Elsewhere in the world, Google identifies it
as “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America).”

But the AP's decision is influential because many news outlets and other organizations use it as an arbiter of how to consistently refer to things.

Some larger outlets have their own rules.

—The New York Times said it would continue to use Gulf of Mexico, while
noting Trump's renaming in stories that discuss that issue. The gulf,
which borders Mexico and Cuba as well as the United States, has been known
as the Gulf of Mexico for more than 400 years.

—The Washington Post also said it would use Gulf of Mexico in most
references because it “is not solely within the United States'
jurisdiction and the name of Gulf of America might confuse global
readers.”

—Fox News said that, starting Sunday, it would use Gulf of America in all
of its references.

Trump has also ordered that the United States' tallest mountain revert
back to the name Mount McKinley after President Barack Obama changed the
Alaska peak to its Indigenous name, Denali. AP says it would follow
Trump's decision because he has the authority to rename areas that are
solely within the United States.

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/white-house-punish-ap-reporters- gulf-naming-dispute-118760471

--- SoupGate-DOS v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)