President Donald Trump’s eventful first weeks in office have taken a turn toward the press, with the potential to redefine the relationship between the media and the presidency. On Feb. 18, Trump curtailed Associated Press access to the Oval Office due to their refusal to designate the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. He told reporters, “We’re going to keep them out until such time as they agree that it’s the Gulf of America.”
His administration argues that the refusal to use the body of water’s new label is an outright lie, and that press access is a privilege, not a right. AP promptly sued, citing the First Amendment.
“This targeted attack on the AP’s editorial independence and ability to gather and report the news strikes at the very core of the First Amendment,” the news agency said. “This court should remedy it immediately.”
The Oval Office has since moved to personally select the press pool, breaking an over-100 year precedent in which membership has been determined by the independent White House Correspondents’ Association.
Last Monday, Judge Trevor N. McFadden declined to immediately restore AP access and force the president’s hand. He did, however, urge the administration to reconsider its ban. “It might be a good idea for the White House to think about whether what they’re doing is really appropriate given the case law,” he said. The next hearing is on March 20.
“I can’t see a longstanding news organization like the Associated Press being denied their First Amendment rights,” said AP Gov teacher Ms. Pommerenke-Schneider. “Granted, this is going to have to go through the courts…it might go all the way up to the Supreme Court. But I can’t imagine the courts ruling against Associated Press. With that being said, I don’t know. There are six conservative judges on the Supreme Court, three of which were appointed by Trump. They have surprised us before.”
Trump’s recent actions have drawn backlash from many, including right-leaning news organizations like the hyper-partisan Newsmax. “We can understand President Trump’s frustration because the media has often been unfair to him, but Newsmax still supports AP’s right, as a private organization, to use the language it wants to use in its reporting,” Newsmax said in a statement. “We fear a future administration may not like something Newsmax writes and seek to ban us.”
In the meantime, the Trump administration continues to hold their ground.
