AP Photographers Are Still Barred From the White House, Despite Court Order
As President Trump hosted El Salvador president Nayib Bukele this week, Associated Press (AP) photographers were absent from the Oval Office despite a judge ordering its ban be lifted.
The AP says a photographer and reporter were blocked from attending the news conference with the self-proclaimed “world’s coolest dictator”, even though a U.S. federal judge siding with the Associated Press last week.
United States District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Trevor N. McFadden ruled that because of the First Amendment, the government cannot bar journalists from certain government events because of their viewpoints.
The Trump administration revoked AP’s access after the news agency refused to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America following the president’s executive order. McFadden, who was appointed to the federal bench by Trump in his first term, put his order on hold until Monday.
The Trump administration has appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. On Thursday, a panel of three judges is set to consider whether to grant the administration’s request to pause the district court’s decision — which would reinstate the restrictions on the AP — while considering the appeal.
The AP also reports that two photographers were allowed on the White House’s South Lawn to cover an event honoring Ohio State’s championship football team, but a reporter was not allowed in.
“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,” the AP says in a statement released last night.
Since mid-February, AP photographers and reporters have been blocked from attending events in the Oval Office and on Air Force One where the president often briefs reporters. The AP has seen sporadic access elsewhere.
Even if the U.S. Court of Appeals judges rule in favor of the AP tomorrow, it is unlikely that Trump’s team will back down. The administration is threatening to remove the wire position in the daily press corps rotation entirely.
“No other news organization in the United States receives the level of guaranteed access previously bestowed upon the AP,” the administration argued in court papers over the weekend. “The AP may have grown accustomed to its favored status, but the Constitution does not require that such status endure in perpetuity.”
The AP says its reporting – both written and visual – reaches four billion people every day. Local news outlets, which rely on the AP for accurate Washington coverage, will have to find an alternative solution if the newswire position is phased out. The news agency admits that its future access looks uncertain.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
