“It Is a Fact That the Body of Water … Is Called the Gulf of America”?
I hope to blog soon about the First Amendment questions raised by President Trump’s excluding the AP from the Oval Office and Air Force One because of the AP’s refusal to call the Gulf of Mexico “the Gulf of America.” (Turns out the precedents on this subject are complicated.) But I wanted to start by briefly discussing the underlying language question. Here’s an excerpt from Wednesday’s White House press briefing:
QUESTION: But isn’t it retaliatory in nature, is the argument, because the reason that the AP was barred, which they said was because they’re not using the phrase Gulf of America, they’re using Gulf of Mexico in line with their standards. And so the question here is, is this setting a precedent that this White House will retaliate against reporters who don’t use the language that you guys believe reporters should use?
And how does that align with the First Amendment commitment that you were just talking about?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: I was very upfront in my briefing on day one that if we feel that there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable. And 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, but that is what it is. The secretary of Interior has made that the official designation, and the Geographical Identification Names Server and Apple has recognized that, Google has recognized that.
Pretty much every other outlet in this room has recognized that body of water as the Gulf of America. And it’s very important to this administration that we get that right, not just for people here at home, but also for the rest of the world. Sure.
Likewise, here’s a Tweet from the White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich:
The Associated Press continues to ignore the lawful geographic name change of the Gulf of America. This decision is not just divisi
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