The Radio Television Digital News Association is requesting that Associated Press reporters and photographers be reinstated in their access to the Oval Office and Air Force One. The administration revoked the AP’s press pool designation for events occurring in the Oval Office and the president’s aircraft because of the organization’s use of the AP Stylebook. That criticism includes that news organizations are referencing the Gulf of Mexico instead of the Gulf of America. The administration also said the AP is
“weaponizing language through their stylebook to push a partisan worldview in contrast with the traditional and deeply held beliefs of many Americans and many people around the world.” RTDNA president and CEO Dan Shelley states, “The current White House moves targeting one of the world’s oldest and most respected news outlets are outrageous and unacceptable. It is the Trump administration, and not the Associated Press, that is trying to contort facts so that they align with its often divisive, and sometimes completely erroneous, version of the truth. We protest the administration’s actions in this instance and object to its effort to shape shift legitimate fact-based journalism to better resemble its alternative versions of the truth.”
