During his first term, US President Trump had several feuds with the media. Now another follows with the AP news agency. The trigger is apparently their refusal to name the Gulf of Mexico “Golf of America”.
According to the Associated Press (AP), US President Donald Trump has excluded two reporters from the US news agency from reporting on several events in the White House. The exclusion was based on the refusal of AP to follow the choice of words of the White House, which had renamed the Gulf of Mexico into “Golf of America”.
The editor -in -chief of AP, Julie Pace, called the incident unacceptable. “It is alarming that the Trump government punishes AP for its independent journalism,” says a 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,” the statement continues.
“White house cannot dictate how media report”
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.
The US government initially made no explanation of the incident. There was no evidence that other journalists were also excluded from the event. According to AP information, however, representatives of news organizations had previously been expelled to the Pentagon office.
AP remains when it is called “Golf of Mexico”
The AP has a style guide in which spellings, a certain choice of words or the waiver of it as well as reporting principles that are used by news media worldwide as a model. After Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico with an executive order to the “Gulf of America”, the AP said that it stayed with the original name. As a global news agency, the AP must ensure that place names for all target groups are easily recognizable.
Google Maps, on the other hand, renamed the Golf and explained that it was a “longstanding practice” to follow the US government in such matters. Apple also shows the new names with Trump's card app. This is initially only shown for users in the USA. An adaptation to other regions is to follow how the company informed the Bloomberg financial service.
Trump ordered the renaming shortly after taking office three weeks ago. The name “Gulf of Mexico” has been used since the 16th century. The water not only borders on the US states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, but also on Mexico and Cuba. According to Trump's decree, the name change for the area up to the maritime boundaries of Mexico and Cuba applies.
Difficult relationship with the media
The US President had already had disputes with media organizations and individual reporters in the past. 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.
