Jack Greiner
| Special to Cincinnati Enquirer
The Associated Press recently filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington D.C. against three officials in the Trump White House – White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich and White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles – based on their refusal to grant White House press pool access to AP reporters based on the AP’s decision to continue to refer to the recently renamed “Gulf of America” as the “Gulf of Mexico,” its name for the past 400 years.
As AP notes in its lawsuit, “On Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. The gulf shares borders with Mexico and Cuba, and by its own terms, the executive order applied only to the area within the United States. The gulf has been known as the Gulf of Mexico for over 400 years and remains known around the world as the Gulf of Mexico.”
On Jan. 23, the AP released guidance specifying that it would refer to the Gulf of Mexico by its original name in its reporting and stylebook while also acknowledging the new name. The AP explained its decision very simply, “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.” The AP added that it “regularly reviews its style guidance regarding name changes, in part to ensure its guidance reflects common usage.”
So, a simple difference of opinion, “you say potato, I say potawto” kind of thing. Easy to resolve, right? Ha, ha. Just kidding.
On the morning of Feb. 11, 2025, Leavitt told AP Chief White House Correspondent Zeke Miller that AP journalists would not be permitted in the Oval Office as press pool members until and unless the AP revised its stylebook to refer to the gulf as the Gulf of America.
The White House made good on its threats, barring AP reporters and/or photographers from nearly a half dozen events, including an Oval Office presidential executive order signing and press conference with Elon Musk, the swearing-in of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and a White House East Room press conference held by President Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was open to other pool members and journalists with White House press credentials.
The AP is relying on two primary arguments. First, that journalists enjoy a First Amendment interest in access to areas of the White House open to the press pool and that interest may not be denied without due process of law under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The AP also contends that denying journalists access to White House press events based upon the content of the journalist’s speech is prohibited under the First Amendment.
In response, the White House doesn’t deny that its decision is based on the AP’s disagreement with how to refer to the gulf; it merely contends that the president has discretion over who he grants access.
On Feb. 24, the court denied the AP’s request for a temporary restraining order but set the matter for expedited briefing on a motion for preliminary injunction. The preliminary injunction hearing is set for March 20, so we should have an answer soon.
I’m rooting for the AP here, not just because my friends Chuck Tobin, Jay Brown and Max Mishkin are representing it. The idea that a president can shun a reporting service because he disagrees with its word choices is exactly what the First Amendment is meant to prohibit. This White House doesn’t get that, but ideally the courts will.
Jack Greiner is a partner at Faruki PLL law firm in Cincinnati. He represents Enquirer Media in First Amendment and media issues.
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Publish date : 2025-02-25 07:04:00
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