An American judge ordered the Trump administration to restore access by the Associated Press to presidential events after the White House blocked the news agency in a dispute on the term “Gulf of America”.
District Judge Trevor McFadden said on Tuesday that the restriction of the administration on journalists AP was “contrary to the first amendment”, which guarantees freedom of expression.
The dispute occurred when the AP refused to adopt the change of name of the Gulf of Mexico by the administration at the “Gulf of America” in its coverage, following an executive decree of President Donald Trump.
The prohibition noted that the AP could not access press events in the White House as well as Air Force One.
Judge McFadden, who was appointed by Trump during his first mandate, also paused the implementation of the decision until Sunday to allow administration lawyers to appeal.
“The court simply maintains that under the first amendment, if the government opens its doors to certain journalists – whether at the Oval Office, in the Eastern Hall, or elsewhere – it cannot close these doors to other journalists because of their views,” he wrote in his decision. “The Constitution is not less required.”
The PA had argued that the administration had violated the constitutional law of the news agency to freedom of expression by restricting access due to disagreements on the language.
In February, judge McFadden refused to restore his access to presidential events immediately.
After Tuesday’s decision, AP spokesperson Lauren Easton said the agency was “satisfied by the court’s decision”.
“Today’s decision affirms the fundamental right of the press and the public to speak freely without reprisals of the government. This is guaranteed freedom for all Americans of the American Constitution,” she said in a statement.
Shortly after the judge’s decision, however, two journalists AP were refused to cover an event at which Trump attended Tuesday evening, the agency reported during an update on Wednesday.
A photographer and a journalist were prevented from preventing the procession of Trump who went to a dinner organized by the National Committee of the Republican Congress, the agency reported.
The decision was also welcomed by other organizations which had criticized the initial restrictions on the AP.
“This is a prudent and well -prosecuted opinion which properly describes the exclusion of the Associated Press since the press pool as reprisals, based on the point of view and unconstitutional,” said Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute of Columbia University.
The PA continued three senior officials from the Trump administration – press secretary Karoline Leavitt, chief of staff Susie Wiles, and assistant staff Taylor Budowich – saying that the restrictions were illegal and violated press freedom.
The Trump administration argued that the Associated Press was not entitled to “special access” to the president.
Shortly after taking office in January, the Trump administration published an executive decree reversing the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America”, a move says that the White House reflects the status of the Gulf as “an indelible part of America”.
The PA said that it would continue to use the term Gulf of Mexico, while recognizing the efforts of the Trump administration to rename it.
In response, the White House has limited AP access to events covered by the “swimming pool” of journalists who are other media.
Trump has targeted several American media since his return to services, in particular by closing the government Voice of America network, which was created during the Second World War to counter Nazi propaganda, and Free Asia RadioA decision that was welcomed by the Chinese government.
He also has Funding threatened for public broadcasters NPR and PBS, saying that the radio and television media, which receive only part of their budget from the federal government, are biased against the conservatives. According to its supervision, the Federal Communications Commission also opened up prosecution against the main ABC, CBS and NBC networks.
At the same time, its administration has opened access to the White House for emerging media, including more recent networks which are more conservative, as well as podcasters and influencers on social networks.
