XPost: alt.journalism.criticism, alt.politics.trump, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.guns   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   NEW YORK -- The White House said Wednesday that news organizations that   
   refuse to use President Donald Trump’s new name for the Gulf of Mexico   
   were telling “lies” and insisted it would continue to bar Associated Press   
   journalists from presidential events.   
      
   Trump has decreed that the international body of water — which borders   
   Mexico, the United States and other nations — be called the Gulf of   
   America. In its influential Stylebook, the AP said it would continue to   
   use Gulf of Mexico, while also noting Trump’s decision, to ensure that   
   names of geographical features are recognizable around the world.   
      
   The White House’s outright attempt at regulating language used by   
   independent media — and the punitive measures attached to it — mark a   
   sharp escalation in Trump’s often fraught dealings with news   
   organizations.   
      
   At a regular briefing Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline   
   Leavitt said that “it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of   
   Louisiana is called the Gulf of America, and I’m not sure why news outlets   
   don’t want to call it that."   
      
   In reality, the body lies partially in waters that don’t belong to the   
   United States and has been called the Gulf of Mexico for hundreds of   
   years.   
      
   On Tuesday, AP reporters were blocked from attending events in the Oval   
   Office and the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room. While an AP   
   reporter was in the White House briefing room Wednesday for Leavitt’s   
   remarks, they were turned away at a later event in the Oval Office for the   
   swearing in of Tulsi Gabbard as national intelligence director.   
      
   Julie Pace, AP’s senior vice president and executive editor, wrote to   
   White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles on Wednesday objecting to the   
   moves.   
      
   “The actions taken by this White House were plainly intended to punish the   
   AP for the content of its speech,” Pace wrote. “It is among the most basic   
   tenets of the First Amendment that the government cannot retaliate against   
   the public or the press for what they say.”   
      
   The White House pointed out that the AP was allowed into its briefing   
   Wednesday but continued to take issue with the style of the gulf’s name.   
   “Nobody has the right to go into the Oval Office and ask the president of   
   the United States questions,” Leavitt said. “We reserve the right to   
   decide who gets to go into the Oval Office.”   
      
   Generally, when the press is permitted to cover White House events where   
   space is tight, a small pool of journalists are allowed in. The AP, which   
   transmits news to thousands of clients, has traditionally been a part of   
   that pool in past administrations.   
      
   Asked if barring AP reporters was retaliatory, Leavitt said that the   
   Interior Secretary has codified the name change in official documents and   
   that “pretty much every other outlet in this room has recognized that body   
   of water as the Gulf of America.”   
      
   The move raised alarms among several advocates for the press. “Barring an   
   AP journalist from covering an Oval Office event because the AP has not   
   adopted President Trump’s change of name to what has long been called the   
   Gulf of Mexico is an affront to the First Amendment,” said noted attorney   
   Floyd Abrams.   
      
   A major consortium of news organizations, the Inter American Press   
   Association, said Wednesday that the White House move was “an act of   
   censorship and intimidation that violates the freedom of the press   
   enshrined in the United States Constitution.”   
      
   The president of the IAPA, José Roberto Dutriz, expressed concern about   
   this measure: “Restricting press coverage and warning against the AP   
   demonstrate a troubling intention to impose official criteria on public   
   interest information, with the threat of reprisals for those who do not   
   comply," said José Roberto Dutriz, CEO and general director of La Prensa   
   Gráfica in El Salvador.   
      
   Users of the Google map app in the United States will now see the body of   
   water referred to as the Gulf of America, the company said. Mexican users   
   would see “Gulf of Mexico.” Elsewhere in the world, Google identifies it   
   as “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America).”   
      
   But the AP's decision is influential because many news outlets and other   
   organizations use it as an arbiter of how to consistently refer to things.   
      
   Some larger outlets have their own rules.   
      
   —The New York Times said it would continue to use Gulf of Mexico, while   
   noting Trump's renaming in stories that discuss that issue. The gulf,   
   which borders Mexico and Cuba as well as the United States, has been known   
   as the Gulf of Mexico for more than 400 years.   
      
   —The Washington Post also said it would use Gulf of Mexico in most   
   references because it “is not solely within the United States'   
   jurisdiction and the name of Gulf of America might confuse global   
   readers.”   
      
   —Fox News said that, starting Sunday, it would use Gulf of America in all   
   of its references.   
      
   Trump has also ordered that the United States' tallest mountain revert   
   back to the name Mount McKinley after President Barack Obama changed the   
   Alaska peak to its Indigenous name, Denali. AP says it would follow   
   Trump's decision because he has the authority to rename areas that are   
   solely within the United States.   
      
   https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/white-house-punish-ap-reporters-   
   gulf-naming-dispute-118760471   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)