For over 200 years, Americans have prided themselves on and championed the freedom of speech. Ultimately, the ability to practice a chosen religion, to assemble, to petition the government, and to report in the press all boil down to one factor: an individual’s right to their own voice.
Yet, after decades of precedent, the White House is making a shift.
As of Feb. 11, The Associated Press, a front-runner of news organizations, has been barred from the Oval Office and Air Force One. This rejection comes after President Donald Trump’s declarations to combat ‘fake news,’ defend against ‘wokeness,’ and his executive action renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, establishing Feb. 9 as the ‘Gulf of America Day.’
Tracing as far back as its first 1953 edition, the Associated Press Stylebook has set the standard for journalistic writing, referenced by numerous outlets across the globe. Considering such prominence, AP Executive Editor Julie Pace issued a statement on Feb. 11 conveying the outlet’s dedication to serving the interests of global audiences and organizations. They maintained AP Style’s use of the Gulf of Mexico.
Evidently, the President did not take kindly to this decision.
“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” Pace’s statement said. “Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.”
In further response, The Associated Press filed a lawsuit against three top White House officials, but it received a cold reception in the courts. U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden promptly ruled against AP on Feb. 24.
That same day, the Trump Administration boasted their “victory."
“Asking the President of the United States questions in the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One is a privilege granted to journalists, not a legal right,” said an official statement. “We stand by our decision to hold the Fake News accountable for their lies, and President Trump will continue to grant an unprecedented level of access to the press.”
Yet, calling access to information and the ability to disseminate such otherwise inaccessible details to the public a 'privilege' and not a right is not quite correct either.
Indisputably, the First Amendment enshrines the Constitution's protection against government attempts to censor or suppress press coverage. The Fourteenth Amendment further extends these protections from the federal level to state and local governments.
Ironically, in not only going against centuries of Constitutional guarantees, Trump appears to contradict his own executive order made barely a month prior: “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship.” The action from Jan. 20 declares that “government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society” and pledges to “ensure that no Federal Government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.”
It seems such “unprecedented access” only applies to those outlets of the administration’s favor and approval.
AP is not entirely without support, though. Around 40 news organizations came together to sign a letter urging a reversal of the ban, first reported by Status on Feb. 19. Signatures included outlets from liberal-leaning The New York Times to conservative Fox News. A Feb. 26 joint statement by AP, Reuters, and Bloomberg News reaffirmed that such censorship “harms the spread of reliable information to people, communities, businesses and global financial markets that heavily depend on our reporting.”
The administration’s ire is not exclusively directed at The Associated Press; Trump’s eye has now turned to the White House press pool collective.
“Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Tuesday briefing. She reassured that legacy outlets would still be able to participate and report but that they would add “well-deserving” outlets to “share in this awesome responsibility,” expressing that “all journalists, outlets, and voices deserve a seat at this highly coveted table.”
Eugene Daniels, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, whose elected reporters have previously maintained and expanded the press pool rotations, said that the change came without any notification beforehand.
“This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States,” Daniels’ statement said. “It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.”
Daniels, in a Tuesday appearance on MSNBC, added that, for nearly a century, the WHCA has worked to ensure the accuracy and professional standards of the documents released by the White House press pool. Now, he said, “That can no longer be trusted, frankly, because at the end of the day, the standards will be created by the folks that are being covered.”
Near the end of the Tuesday White House briefing, Leavitt proudly claimed the “administration is shaking up Washington in more ways than one.”
If that “shaking up” includes chipping away at fundamental reporting rights, then certainly, not only Washington but America as a whole is being rattled.