The AP Stylebook has long been a bible of journalism, the “definitive source,” for largely pragmatic reasons. No newspaper could have a reporter everywhere news arose, and so news services, the Associated Press and United Press International (before it imploded) provided reports that newspapers would publish. To maintain consistency in word usage, spelling and choice, newspapers followed the AP’s guidance. It was rarely controversial, until now.
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The body of water has shared borders between the U.S. and Mexico. Trump’s order only carries authority within the United States. Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change.
The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. 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.
One of Trump’s first strokes of stable genius was to issue an Executive Order changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Why he did this, other than the idea popped into his head, is a mystery. It accomplishes nothing. It fixes nothing. It achieves nothing. So Trump did it, later making February 9th “Gulf of America Day,” as if anybody (other than Trump) cared.
The AP, however, decided not to play ball, and continued to call the body of water outside the territorial limits of the United States by the name it had been called for centuries and continued to be called by the rest of the world that was not quite as enthralled with Trump’s masterstroke as he was. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who was four years old when 9/11 happened, was outraged by the AP’s insolence.
It wasn’t just that the AP refused to bow to Trump’s decision to rename an international body of water, but that by calling it the Gulf of Mexico, the AP was lying. And lying liars like the AP were not going to enjoy the “privilege” of being let into Oval Office in retribution.
After the AP refused to succumb to Leavitt’s and Trump’s will, the privilege was revoked “indefinitely.”
The Associated Press continues to ignore the lawful geographic name change of the Gulf of America. This decision is not just divisive, but it also exposes the Associated Press’ commitment to misinformation. While their right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected…
— Taylor Budowich (@Taylor47) February 14, 2025
Is it the “lawful geographic name”? Changing the name of Mount McKinley to Denali, and back again despite the will of the Alaskan people, is one thing, as the mountain is within the United States. But the president has no more authority to rename the Gulf of Mexico than change the Gulf of Tonkin to the Gulf of Trumpkin. I mean, he can sign the EO. He can call it whatever he wants, to the sniggers of heads of state elsewhere, but that neither makes it lawful nor real. It’s not like paving over the grass of the rose garden, which will undeniably replace nature with asphalt.
But denying a ubiquitous news organization, about as mainstream as it gets, access to press opportunities afforded other sources like FOX and OANN implicates freedom of the press when it’s done in retaliation for the APs refusal to abide Trump’s renaming.
Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office. This afternoon AP’s reporter was blocked from attending an executive order signing.
It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism. Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.
The easy fix would be for the AP to acquiesce to Trump’s silliness, as nobody will be fooled by their calling the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America anymore than anyone was fooled by calling French fries freedom fries. It was more joke than anything else, and could well be the source of chuckles about Trump’s inanity and pettiness for years to come. But doing so would put the AP in the position of not only relinquishing its principles, a word banned from use at the White House, but would encourage the Trump administration to continue to use media access as leverage to control what the media says. There’s that darn First Amendment problem again.
The irony here is that this kerfluffle is over such a nonsensical issue, the changing of the Gulf of Mexico’s name. Who cares, other than Trump? And the AP remains the big kahuna in news gathering for the same pragmatic reasons its stylebook is regarded as definitive. Others have chosen to play the game rather than make this a hill to die on, with Google and Apple using the new name so as not to become the targets of Trump’s ire, but what, pray tell, will be done with the great music that speaks of the Gulf of Mexico? There’s no putting The Band back together now, and the lyrics aren’t going to change.
Somewhat surprisingly, renaming the Gulf of Mexico, laying off thousands of fed’l workers, and banning pronouns in .gov email signature lines, hasn’t lowered the price of eggs.
Yet.
These things take time.
And I kinda doubt John Mellencamp will change the lyrics to Pink Houses.
Few will appreciate how Budowich’s tweet defies the AP’s rule on making possessives of singular nouns ending in -s.
Putting aside the wisdom of the “rebranding”, the president does have authority in this area – it falls within his authority to conduct foreign affairs on behalf of the United States. Part of this responsibility concerns the recognition of place names (e.g. the Kuril Islands – Japan’s names or Russia’s names?) and foreign claims on lands and waters. The freedom of navigation (FON) exercises conducted by the US Navy are very much real, as Libya learned when it decided it had a “historical” claim to the Gulf of Sidra.
I doubt “Gulf of Mexico” -> “Gulf of America” is going to provoke as strong a reaction as “Falkland Islands” -> “Islas Malvinas”, but it is certainly stirring things up internationally.
The irony, though, is that by dissing the AP, Trump removes the biggest thing that let the world+dog know about the name change. I suspect we’re about to learn the answer to “What happens if Trump opens his mouth and nobody is there to report it?”
[Ed. Note: Recognizing other’s place names and renaming are not the same thing.]
Race-baiting his base. Just as his allout attack on DEI, his ridiculous assertions about taking over Canada, Greenland or Panama serve no other purpose but to rouse the rabble. Chaos is the name of his game, puts the focus on the insignificant while he lights fires and plays the fiddle.
[Ed. Note: Et tu, Bruce? This is a post about AP getting banned, not about your grievances with AP. FOCUS.]
Were Trump more strategic, I would suspect that this was an excuse to get the AP out of the room for when more significant issues come up. That is, while the AP litigates the 1A issues over The Stupid, things the administration wants reported only through ‘loyal’ outlets might pass by unnoticed by much of mainstream media.
I doubt, though, that the administration had thought that far ahead.