“It is a plain violation of the First Amendment, and we urge the Trump administration in the strongest terms to stop this practice.”
In a letter to White House chief-of-staff Susie Wiles, Pace said the administration’s actions were discriminatory against a viewpoint. “It is among the most basic tenets of the First Amendment that the government cannot retaliate against the public or the press for what they say,” she wrote.
Google is using both names; the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf of America.
The Associated Press was contacted for a response following the latest developments.
Trump signed the executive order to rename the body of water in January, but AP said it only carried authority within the US, and as a global news agency distributing news around the world, AP “must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognisable to all audiences”.
“The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen,” it said at the time.
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Asked about the matter earlier in the week after the agency was first barred from an Oval Office event, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was a matter of importance to the administration that outlets used the term Trump had designated.
“I was very upfront in my briefing on day one that if we feel there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable,” she said.
“It is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America. I’m not sure why news outlets don’t want to call it that, but that is what it is.”
Leavitt pointed out other media outlets and platforms, such as Apple Maps, had renamed the body of water. Google announced it would rename it for Google Maps users in the United States.
Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said while the White House was not compelled to open its doors to the media, once it does, it must play by constitutional rules – as determined by court rulings over several decades.
“The reason for denying access matters,” Terr said. “When the government shuts out journalists explicitly because it dislikes their reporting or political views, that violates the First Amendment.”
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