AP sues Trump staffers: ‘Penalizing free speech’

22 hours ago 3

Alabama journalism experts said The Associated Press is taking a stand for the First Amendment by suing the Trump administration.

“Penalizing free speech because the government doesn’t like the speech is antithetical to the First Amendment,” said Chris Roberts, an associate journalism professor at the University of Alabama and a board member on the Society of Professional Journalists’ National Ethics Committee.

The AP, a global news organization, filed a lawsuit against three Trump administration officials on Feb. 21.

The suit was filed in Washington, D.C.’s U.S. District Court 10 days after the White House blocked the agency’s press access.

“The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government,” the lawsuit states. The defendants are White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich and press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

“The Constitution does not allow the government to control speech,” the plaintiff’s attorneys said in the complaint. “Allowing such government control and retaliation to stand is a threat to every American’s freedom.”

The AP said this suit is about the “unconstitutional effort” to force them to change their popular style guide to say “Gulf of America” instead of Gulf of Mexico. Trump signed an executive order changing the name of the Gulf in January.

“We’ll see them in court,” Leavitt said. The White House removed AP’s credentials from the White House press office and Mar-a-Lago as well as their usual spot on Air Force One. The organization can remain on White House grounds.

AP said this is a “targeted attack” on its “editorial independence and ability to gather and report the news strikes at the very core of the First Amendment. This court should remedy it immediately.”

“We’re going to keep them out until such time as they agree that it’s the Gulf of America,” Trump said Tuesday. Trump’s executive order to change the country’s largest mountain to Mount McKinley from Denali is recognized in the stylebook.

About 40 news organizations, including conservative outlets Fox News and Newsmax, urged the White House to reverse its policy.

“We strongly condemn the campaign underway in Washington to penalize independent reporting on the government and its activities,” said the Society of Professional Journalists in a joint statement.

“This disturbing challenge to journalistic independence is part of a troubling pattern that extends well beyond the White House press corps,” the statement said.

This is a bipartisan First Amendment issue, according to Roberts, who said that because the AP is an international organization, they need to use what is accepted by global audiences. They’ve changed Mt. Denali to Mount McKinley, but they have to use the Gulf of Mexico while also acknowledging Trump’s name change, he said.

“They made a very thoughtful decision, and they explained themselves,” Roberts said. “The other piece of this is now you’ve got a government agency telling a news organization the words it must use or it will be penalized by the government.”

Besides regaining press access, Roberts believes the lawsuit sends a message supporting free speech.

“No matter whatever your political leaning is, this could happen to you,” he said.

Rebecca Ivic-Britt, an associate professor of health communication at the University of Alabama, said the lawsuit is a “dramatic” turn and “points to a larger concern in terms of how information is framed that can really lead to undermining public trust in the media.”

“While it’s not surprising, it’s deeply disturbing,” Ivic-Britt said. “I just worry about all of these rapid changes with the current administration and those larger implications that they have.”

In the complaint, the AP said the non-profit organization, founded in 1846, is “one of the world’s oldest and most trusted news organizations.” The media agency said they have received 59 Pulitzer Prizes and reach four billion people daily.

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