On February 24th local time, a ruling in the US judicial field caused a huge uproar. The US judge rejected the Associated Press' urgent motion to restore its full coverage of the White House press conference, but at the same time ordered an expedited review of the matter. This seemingly contradictory decision instantly pushed the incident to the forefront of public opinion, and the White House and Associated Press quickly responded to it.
In a formal statement, the White House strongly emphasized that "asking the President of the United States questions from the Oval Office and Air Force One is only a privilege granted to journalists, not a legal or inalienable right." From these brief words, it is not difficult to see that the White House is attempting to emphasize its absolute dominance in journalist interview arrangements and control over interview "privileges" through this approach.
In response to the White House's statement, a spokesperson for the Associated Press quickly stated, "The Associated Press will unwaveringly defend the right of the press and the public to speak freely without unjustified retaliation from the government." This response is resounding, reflecting not only the Associated Press' adherence to the principle of press freedom, but also the strong dissatisfaction of the press with government intervention in news reporting.
And on the same day, a picture posted by the White House on social platform X added a new topic to this incident. In this image, the location originally marked as "Gulf of Mexico" is covered by the prominent word "VICTORY", and the name of "Gulf of Mexico" has been replaced with "Gulf of the United States". This detail inevitably brings to mind a series of measures taken by the previous Trump administration.
As early as January 20th, then US President Trump signed an executive order unilaterally announcing the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to "Gulf of America". As an authoritative news agency that disseminates news and information globally, the Associated Press insists on continuing to use the internationally recognized name "Gulf of Mexico" based on the perception of global audiences and the objectivity of news dissemination.
However, this reasonable decision has sparked strong dissatisfaction from the Trump administration, and from February 11th, Associated Press journalists were banned from entering the Oval Office of the White House to attend multiple important events. On February 14th, the White House announced an indefinite ban on Associated Press journalists from boarding the US presidential plane Air Force One and entering the Oval Office. Faced with the White House's "ban", the Associated Press sued three officials of the Trump administration on February 21 in the Federal District Court for violating freedom of speech. At present, this incident is still fermenting, and its subsequent development not only attracts the attention of global media, but also triggers deep thinking among the public on the boundary between press freedom and government power.
(Editer：admin)
