Trump hits out at US news agency AP as ‘radical left’ media
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Associated Press White House reporter were told they had been denied from joining the White House press pool in Florida on Feb 15.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump on Feb 20 called the Associated Press (AP) a “radical left organisation” in his latest salvo in the fight over the US media mainstay’s use of the Gulf of Mexico for the renamed body of water.
Mr Trump in his first month in office dubbed the area the “Gulf of America” and has restricted AP journalists’ access to the White House
The White House has blocked AP journalists from Air Force One and the Oval Office
“We have a fight with one news organisation, AP, a radical left organisation – treats us all very badly – and they refuse to acknowledge that the Gulf formerly of Mexico is now called the Gulf of America,” Mr Trump said in a speech on Feb 20 to the Republican Governor’s Association in the capital Washington.
“We’re holding them out of any news conferences now. I’m sure they’ll get sued, and maybe they’ll win. Doesn’t matter. It’s just something that we feel strongly about,” he added, without clarifying what he meant about the possible legal action.
The 180-year-old media organisation has long been a pillar of US journalism and provides news to print, TV and radio outlets across the country.
In a style note last month, AP noted that “the Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years” and said Mr Trump’s executive order “only carries authority within the United States”. AFP
