The Associated Press (AP) said it was blocked from sending a reporter to Tuesday's Oval Office executive order signing due to the news agency continuing to use the name "Gulf of Mexico" instead of aligning with the current United States administration's stance and calling it the "Gulf of America."
"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. This afternoon AP's reporter was blocked from attending an executive order signing," AP Executive Editor Julie Pace said in a statement.
Pace said it was "alarming" that Trump's administration would "punish AP for its independent journalism" and argued that barring the agency from the Oval Office "plainly violates the First Amendment."
