AP Reporter Barred from Oval Office Due to Gulf Name Dispute

The wire service said the decision stemmed from a style guidance to continue using the name Gulf of Mexico instead of Gulf of America.

The Associated Press said on Tuesday afternoon that one of its reporters was barred from covering an event in the Oval Office because of a decision made by the wire service to continue using the name Gulf of Mexico, rather than Gulf of America.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 instructing the interior secretary to rename the body of water. The AP, in a style guidance published three days later, said that it would continue using the original name in use for more than 400 years "while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen."

AP executive editor Julie Pace said in a statement on Tuesday that the news organization was "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."

The Associated Press reporter who was barred from attending the event was Chris Megerian, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation. Megerian had attempted to cover a signing ceremony attended by Elon Musk that focused on downsizing the federal workforce.

"It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism," Pace said in her statement. "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."

Messages sent to the White House press office and to press secretary Karoline Leavitt have not yet been returned.

The White House's decision to bar the Associated Press has already been met with pushback from press organizations and advocacy groups.

"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," said Eugene Daniels, president of the White House Correspondents' Association. "The move by the administration to bar a reporter from the Associated Press from an official event open to news coverage today is unacceptable."

The WHCA, Daniels said, "stands with the Associated Press and calls on the administration to immediately change course."

Seth Stern, director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, told The Post that "it's ironic that the same president who just weeks ago touted his executive order purporting to restore freedom of speech now wants to bar news outlets from executive order signings if they don't use his preferred language." He added, "I hope that news outlets Trump punishes by restricting their access to briefings, signings and the like will take the opportunity to double down on hard-hitting investigations that don't require access to ceremonies and spin sessions."

"Barring AP journalists from an official presidential event because of the news agency's editorial decisions is an affront to the First Amendment and a free press," said Tim Richardson of the organization PEN America. "It is retribution, plain and simple, and a shameful attempt to bully the press into ideological compliance."

The incident is reminiscent of a decision made by the White House press office during Trump's first term in July 2018, when CNN journalist Kaitlan Collins was prevented from covering a public event in the Rose Garden over questions she had asked Trump earlier in the day.

The new Trump administration has already made other decisions that could affect press coverage. Under a "media rotation program" instituted by the Department of Defense, several large news organizations, including The Post, will lose their dedicated workspaces. Instead, several news organizations that cater to a conservative audience, including Breitbart News and One America News, will receive physical spaces.

The decision to continue referring to the body of water as the Gulf of Mexico was explained by Amanda Barrett, the Vice President of News, Standards and Inclusion for the Associated Press. She noted that Trump's order is only legally applicable to the United States and that "Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change."

"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," Barrett wrote.

On Monday, Google explained changes to its maps for users in the United States. People in Mexico will still see the name Gulf of Mexico, while those outside the two countries will see both names, Google said in a blog post.

The Washington Post has also decided to continue using the name Gulf of Mexico "in most contexts" because the body of water "is not solely within the United States' jurisdiction and the name Gulf of America might confuse global readers," according to a style guidance.

The AP Stylebook is used by many newsrooms around the world and is seen as a major arbiter of journalistic language choices.

The Associated Press did accept another name change made by Trump and will now refer to North America's tallest peak as Mount McKinley, not Denali.

"The area lies solely in the United States and as president, Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names within the country," the organization said.