Two prominent conservative outlets – Fox News and Newsmax – are calling on the White House to reverse its ban of the Associated Press over the outlet’s refusal to use ‘Gulf of America.’
Both of the outlets signed on to a letter that was organized by the White House Correspondents’ Association after the AP’s reporters and photographers were barred from White House events and from traveling on board Air Force One last week.
The ban continued Friday, with press staff barring the AP’s reporter and photographer from entering an event in the State Dining Room covered by the White House pool, of which the wire service is always a part.
‘We can understand President Trump’s frustration because the media has often been unfair to him, but Newsmax still supports the AP’s right, as a private organization, to use the language it wants to use in its reporting,’ Newsmax said in a statement obtained by DailyMail.com
It continued: ‘We fear a future administration may not like something Newsmax writes and seek to ban us.’
‘This is why news organizations like Newsmax and Fox News are supporting the AP’s First Amendment rights though we may disagree with its editorial point of view from time to time,’ Newsmax said.
Fox News did not comment on why the conservative network signed onto the letter.
‘The First Amendment prohibits the government from asserting control over how news organizations make editorial decisions. Any attempt to punish journalists for those decisions is a serious breach of this Constitutional protection,’ the letter read, according to Oliver Darcy’s Status news.
Fox News Channel signed on to a letter sent by the White House Correspondents’ Association to the White House protesting the Associated Press’ removal from covering events at the White House and from Air Force One
President Donald Trump continued to complain about the Associated Press’ refusal to use ‘Gulf of America’ during remarks to the Republican Governors Association Thursday night in Washington, D.C.
While negotiations are going on behind-the-scenes, Trump doubled down on the ban several times this week.
During his Thursday night speech to the Republican Governors Association he slammed the AP – a wire service with an influential style guide – with being a ‘radical left organization.’
‘Treats us all very badly. And they refused to acknowlede the gulf, former, of Mexico is called the Gulf of America,’ Trump said.
‘We’re holding them out of any news conferences, now I’m sure they’ll get sued and maybe they’ll win, it doesn’t matter, it’s just something we feel strongly about,’ the president added.
Trump gestured at Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and said the former North Dakota governor was a ‘big believer’ in he name change.
‘And most of the shoreline, 85 percent of it is on our soil, but I thought it would be appropriate – I never understood of the Gulf of Mexico,’ Trump said.
‘It’s called the Gulf of America,’ he added.
On Tuesday, during a Q&A with press from Mar-a-Lago he was asked what would need to happen for him to change his mind.
Associated Press White House reporter Darlene Superville and AP photographer Ben Curtis continued to be barred from the White House pool over the weekend after Trump aides prevented them from boarding Air Force One on Friday
Trump complained to reporters that the AP ‘refuses to go with what the law is and what is taking place.’
‘It’s called the Gulf of America now. It’s not called the Gulf of Mexico any longer,’ Trump said. ‘I have the right to do it.’
‘They’re doing us no favors and I guess I’m not doing them any favors – that’s the way life works,’ he quipped.
Trump was also asked if he objected to some of the AP’s terminology that conservatives object to and claim skews liberal.
Terms like ‘gender-affirming care’ – how the AP says reporters should refer to sex changes for transgender people – have received complaints from conservatives.
Additionally the style choice of capitalizing the word ‘Black’ for African-Americans, but leaving ‘white’ down-style, has irritated Trump allies, as has the AP frowning on journalists using the term ‘illegal immigrant’ in their stories.
‘Well I do think some of the phrases that they want to use are ridiculous,’ Trump chimed in on Tuesday.
‘And I think, frankly, they’ve become obsolete,’ he continued. ‘Especially in the last three weeks. Because many things have happened in the last three weeks.’