Fox, Newsmax Side with AP After Trump Banned it From Briefings Over 'Gulf of America'

A confidential letter by the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) condemned the Trump administration's decision to bar the Associated Press (Left bias) from the Oval Office and Air Force One over its refusal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

The Details: Over 40 media organizations signed the letter calling for AP's reinstatement, including CNN (Lean Left), The New York Times (Lean Left), ABC News (Lean Left), The Washington Post (Lean Left), Fox News (Right), and Newsmax (Right). AP Executive Director Julie Pace flew to Florida on Wednesday for a closed-door meeting with Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff, in an effort to reverse the ban. 

Key Quotes: The letter reads, in part, “The decision to exclude The Associated Press from covering the president aboard Air Force One and in the Oval Office is an escalation of a dispute that does not serve the presidency or the public. News organizations must be free to make their own editorial decisions without fear of government intrusion… We once again ask the White House to lift this ban on the AP immediately.” On Tuesday, President Donald Trump reiterated his position, “We’re going to keep them out until such time as they agree that it’s the Gulf of America.”

How The Media Covered It: Mediaite (Lean Left) seemed to slant its coverage against Trump, putting Gulf of America in quotation marks but not Gulf of Mexico and saying Trump's “media blockade” is intact “despite mounting backlash.” Outlets on the right rarely covered the letter. Breitbart (Right) said, “Media Elites Call for Boycott of Donald Trump in Support of AP’s Speech Codes,” subjectively characterizing AP's style guide as “far left” and not mentioning any of the media organizations on the right that backed AP.