Access to the White House refuses: AP editor-in-chief in turmoil!

Access to the White House refuses: AP editor-in-chief in turmoil!

The controversy about the change of name of the Gulf of Mexico in "Gulf of America" ​​by President Donald Trump lead to serious tensions between the Trump government and the largest US news agency, the Associated Press (AP). On Wednesday, an AP reporter was refused to access the White House for the second time when he wanted to report on the swearing-in of Tulsi Gabbard, the new intelligence director. The Press spokeswoman of the White House, Karoline Leavitt, said that the Trump government wanted to protect itself from "lies" in the media and get the right to decide who can go to the oval office. She emphasized that questions to the president should be understood as a "invitation" and not as right.

access only with adaptation to Trump's language

Already on Tuesday, AP editor-in-chief Julie Pace and other journalists had learned that their reporter in connection with Trump's decree of renaming the Gulf of Mexico was excluded by an event in the Oval Office. The government had made it clear that AP would only have access to events in the White House if the agency would adapt its editorial standards to the requirements of the Trump administration. Pace described this as "alarming" and as a clear violation of the first constitutional addition to protect the freedom of the press.

In an explanation, the AP summarized its attitude: it would continue to use the more than 400 -year -old name "Golf of Mexico", even if Trump insists on naming this "Gulf of America". The press organization is committed to naming location names in such a way that they are clear and understandable for a global audience. The dismissal of their reporters was described by the Association of Correspondents in the White House as unacceptable. Technologists such as Google and Apple have already implemented Trump's decision in their card apps and renamed the Golf accordingly, which makes the political explosiveness of the situation clear, as Deutschlandfunk reported.