A coalition of more than two dozen news outlets is calling on President Donald Trump’s administration to restore The Associated Press’ participation in the White House press pool after reporters with the global news service were denied access to key events in the past week.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, whose mission is to protect the newsgathering rights of journalists, sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles on Monday objecting to the restrictions as a violation of First Amendment principles. The organization’s letter followed one from the White House Correspondents Association, also sent on Monday, bringing the number of news outlets in support of the AP to 50, including Newsday.
The Trump administration and the AP have been at odds over the wire service’s refusal to comply with the president’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The AP Stylebook is the standard used in newsrooms across the country and most of the world. Google Maps and Apple Maps have switched to the term Gulf of America.
“Conditioning pool access to White House events on the editorial decisions of any news organization violates First Amendment principles,” the letter states. “All news organizations covering the White House are negatively affected when one peer outlet is singled out in a manner that crosses a constitutional line.”
In addition to Newsday, news organizations signing onto the letter include the New York Times, CNN and the Wall Street Journal. The letter cites federal court cases showing that, once the White House opens its facilities to the media, denying access to certain reporters or outlets using “arbitrary or content-based criteria” or “for less than compelling reasons” violates the First Amendment.
Newsday has separately sued Nassau County and Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman after the county removed its designation as official newspaper.
While hundreds of journalists are credentialed to cover the White House, a smaller, rotating group of reporters and photographers each day are responsible for documenting the president’s whereabouts and actions in the Oval Office or on Air Force One, in addition to larger gatherings. This White House “pool” of journalists are responsible for disseminating information to thousands of news media organizations in the world.
Over the past week, an AP reporter was prevented from entering a news conference where Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi answered questions. In another incident, a credentialed reporter and photographer were blocked from boarding the presidential airplane for a weekend trip with Trump.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has said media access decisions are up to the president.
Trump on Tuesday said he would continue to restrict AP’s access to his events and news conferences and acknowledged the move was a presidential retaliation against the news agency’s editorial policy.
With The Associated Press
Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.
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Publish date : 2025-02-20 08:39:00
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