Court ruling notwithstanding, it doesn’t look like the Associated Press will be back in the White House on a regular basis any time soon.
The Trump administration on Wednesday nullified a pool position in its press corps that had historically been reserved for members of the AP, one of the world’s most circulated news agencies in the world.
The decision is believed to be able to withstand legal scrutiny, according to sources close to the decision makers, and comes after a federal court ruled that the administration must reinstate the news outlet after revoking its White House credentials over a semantics dispute relating to the renamed Gulf of America.
The impact will be felt by newswire customers who rely on the AP and competitors like Reuters to dispatch reporters across the globe and sell their stories in a subscription-based model. The AP estimates it circulates its coverage to more than 3,000 sites across the U.S. and more than 900 internationally.
The news agency expressed dismay in a statement on Tuesday night, telling CNN, “The administration’s actions continue to disregard the fundamental American freedom to speak without government control or retaliation. This is a grave disservice to the American people.”
At issue is the so-called “press pool,” a traveling phalanx of reporters who join the president and members of the administration on trips and in briefing areas where space is limited. The rotating journalists selected for the assignment are expected to provide coverage for all members of the White House Correspondents Association, which until the Trump administration was responsible for naming its own assignees.
On Tuesday, a new memo formalizing pool policy left out dedicated spaces for wire services; instead, there will now be a second print journalist while wires will be eligible for the two print spots. Without the preferential wire spots, the AP and Reuters will have no choice but to fight with other publications for pool space.
The dispute began when AP stylists refused to accept the White House’s demands that its journalists begin referring to the former Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, a change that has been adopted by many media outlets as well as digital map providers such as Apple and Google. Instead, the AP has continued to use the body of water’s longstanding former name while referencing Trump’s executive order designating the change.
As a result, the White House began to bar AP reporters from pool events and later even entire press conferences. The AP filed suit in federal court alleging First and Fifth Amendment violations.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden sided with the wire outlet, writing that “the Constitution forbids viewpoint discrimination, even in a nonpublic forum like the Oval Office.”
McFadden said the White House had to “put the AP on an equal playing field as similarly situated outlets, despite the AP’s use of disfavored terminology.”
The White House stated that the judge’s order is reflected in its pool plan, settling the AP alongside “similarly situated outlets” like Reuters and Bloomberg on an “equal playing field” by changing the field altogether, CNN reported.
