By Silvia DalBen
The Associated Press has been trying to get back in the White House press pool for almost 50 days.
Every day, its journalists are turned away, said Julie Pace, senior vice president and executive editor of the AP, during the 26th International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ).
Since Feb. 11, the news agency’s journalists have been banned from participation in the White House press pool and from reporting in locations like the Oval Office and Air Force One. The catalyst was the AP’s decision not to change its stylebook entry for the “Gulf of Mexico” despite acknowledging the president’s executive order referring to it as the “Gulf of America” within the United States.
“I really would encourage everybody to think about this as something that is so much bigger,” Pace said. “It was really not just about that language that we are using. It was about whether the government can tell a news organization, or anyone, what language to use and if they don't comply, retaliate against them.”
On Friday, March 28, Pace joined Evan Smith, co-founder of the Texas Tribune and senior advisor of the Emerson Collective, for a 20-minute conversation that touched on the controversy.
“AP is a global news organization,” Pace said. “We operate in a hundred countries around the world. And we get requests from governments all the time to use language that they prefer. And we have to make decisions around language that make sense for the broadest audiences possible.”
Following the ban, the news agency filed a lawsuit against officials of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to restore access to the White House, arguing that its First Amendment rights have been violated. Journalists from the AP participated in a second court session last Thursday, March 27, before U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden. A decision in the case is still pending.
“The judge did not issue a ruling at the end, but we felt like it was a really substantive hearing,” Pace said. “We were able to make our arguments, and we look forward to hearing what the judge has to say.”
She reaffirmed the AP’s commitment to being part of the White House press pool for more than 100 years.
“We've done that through Republican administrations, Democratic administrations, and some of the most iconic reporting and images that everyone knows from presidential coverage have come from the AP,” she said.
Pace also acknowledged the AP’s good working relationship with the first Trump’s administration, Trump campaigns and the beginning of this administration.
“We are not here to be adversarial. We don't fancy ourselves as oppositional. Because again, our entire purpose as an organization is to reach people across the political spectrum,” she said.
AP’s reporters and photographers continue to cover the White House, but being banned puts them at a disadvantage.
“We're having to rely on reports from other news organizations. And some of those reports are very high quality, but they are a delay for us,” Pace said.
Despite the ban, she recognizes the amazing effort the AP’s White House team has been making to maintain fact-based coverage.
“AP is the representative of thousands of news organizations and four billion people around the world every day who interact with our coverage. So we’re showing up [at the White House] not for ourselves, we’re showing up for them. And we feel like that’s an important thing to do,” she said.
Pace emphasized the AP’s motives in its decision to fight against the White House ban.
“We are standing up for the principles of the entire independent press. And again, also for the public because I think this matter of speech is something that is relevant beyond the media conversation,” she said.
She also believes this is a warning for the entire press: “We may be the target now. But I don't think we'll be the only ones. And that's why it's important for us to stand up for this principle.”
Evan Smith agreed: “A fight over White House access is a fight over free speech. And a fight over free speech is a fight that everyone here has a stake in.”
At the end of the 20-minute conversation, Pace concluded: “No matter what happens, we are comfortable with the position that we have taken, and we will continue to cover this White House in the ways that we have done throughout our history, getting fact-based, non-partisan, independent [coverage].”