It is easy for the general public to ignore the story and it’s even easy for reporters outside of Washington, D.C. to view it as “inside baseball,” but the decision by The White House to restrict access to the Associated Press has potentially far-reaching ramifications for news coverage in the United States and freedom of speech for all Americans.
As the AP argued in a lawsuit it filed at the end of last week, The White House is attempting to use its power over the question of access, to direct the AP to use the language it prefers. On the surface, the dispute is over whether to call the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico, or President Trump’s preference, the Gulf of America. The AP, according to its Stylebook, insists on calling it the Gulf of Mexico, while acknowledging that Trump claims to have re-named it.
If the White House wins this fight it would give the administration power to police the use language by news organizations across the country. And there is no reason to believe the Trump administration would not seek to use that power. What might be even worse is how this new reality could play out at the state and local level. If the White House can police language in the news media, why not the governor, or the mayor of your town?
The question of White House access for the AP is at its core about freedom of speech for everyone. How’s that for a Connecticut angle to the story?
