Fox News Signs WHCA Letter Blasting Trump Admin for Banning AP Over Gulf Of America
Photo by: Frank Rumpenhorst/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
Fox News and Newsmax have joined a rare show of unity in the press corps by signing onto a confidential letter from the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) condemning the Trump administration’s decision to bar the Associated Press (AP) from official events.
The administration’s move came after the AP defiant refusal to call the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
Julie Pace, the AP’s executive editor, flew to Florida on Wednesday for a closed-door meeting with Susie Wiles, Trump’s White House chief of staff, in an effort to reverse the ban. The AP has been effectively blacklisted from Air Force One and Oval Office coverage, and despite mounting backlash, the White House hasn’t relented.
While a handful of outlets, including The New York Times and Reuters, have publicly decried the decision, the real push has come behind the scenes. The WHCA has steered clear of a public fight, opting instead for private diplomacy. That effort culminated in a confidential letter signed by 40 media organizations — including CNN, ABC News, The Washington Post, and, strikingly, Fox News and Newsmax — demanding the AP’s reinstatement.
The WHCA had reportedly taken measures to keep the letter under wraps but Oliver Darcy at Status obtained a copy, which reads in part:
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 decision to exclude The Associated Press from covering the president aboard Air Force One and in the Oval Office is an escalation of a dispute that does not serve the presidency or the public. News organizations must be free to make their own editorial decisions without fear of government intrusion.
Press pools organized by the WHCA have accompanied presidents on their travels since President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide the American people with timely and accurate information.
The Associated Press provides content to news organizations across a broad media landscape and is an essential part of the White House press pool. We stand with the AP.
We once again ask the White House to lift this ban on the AP immediately and to underscore its support for press freedom.
Despite the unified push, Darcy noted, the White House isn’t budging. At an event Tuesday, President Donald Trump made his position clear: “We’re going to keep them out until such time as they agree that it’s the Gulf of America.”
The AP has signaled it may take legal action, but as of now, it hasn’t made a move. That leaves Trump’s media blockade intact.
