White House bars AP reporter from Oval Office because of AP style policy on 'Gulf of America'

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White House bars AP reporter from Oval Office because of AP style policy on 'Gulf of America'

2025-02-12 22:50 Last Updated At：23:00

NEW YORK (AP) — The White House blocked an Associated Press reporter from an event in the Oval Office on Tuesday after demanding the news agency alter its style on the Gulf of Mexico, which President Donald Trump has ordered renamed the Gulf of America.

The reporter, whom the AP would not identify, tried to enter the White House event as usual Tuesday afternoon and was turned away. Later, a second AP reporter was barred from a late-evening event in the White House's Diplomatic Reception Room.

The highly unusual ban, which Trump administration officials had threatened earlier Tuesday unless the AP changed the style on the Gulf, could have constitutional free-speech implications.

Julie Pace, AP's senior vice president and executive editor, called the administration's move unacceptable.

“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” Pace said in a statement. “Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.”

The Trump administration made no immediate announcements about the moves, and there was no indication any other journalists were affected. Trump has long had an adversarial relationship with the media. On Friday, the administration ejected a second group of news organizations from Pentagon office space.

Before his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump announced plans to change the Gulf of Mexico’s name to the “Gulf of America” — and signed an executive order to do so as soon as he was in office. Mexico’s president responded sarcastically and others noted that the name change would probably not affect global usage.

Besides the United States, the body of water — named the Gulf of Mexico for more than 400 years — also borders Mexico.

The AP said last month, three days after Trump’s inauguration, that it would continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico while noting Trump’s decision to rename it as well. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP says it must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.

AP style is not only used by the agency. The AP Stylebook is relied on by thousands of journalists and other writers globally.

Barring the AP reporter was an affront to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which bars the government from impeding the freedom of the press, said Tim Richardson, program director of journalism and misinformation for PEN America.

The White House Correspondents Association called the White House move unacceptable and called on the administration to change course.

“The White House cannot dictate how news organizations report the news, nor should it penalize working journalists because it is unhappy with their editors' decision,” said Eugene Daniels, WHCA's president.

This week, Google Maps began using “Gulf of America," saying it had a “longstanding practice” of following the U.S. government’s lead on such matters. The other leading online map provider, Apple Maps, was still using “Gulf of Mexico" earlier Tuesday but by early evening had changed to “Gulf of America" on some browsers, though at least one search produced results for both.

Trump also decreed that the mountain in Alaska known as Mount McKinley and then by its Indigenous name, Denali, be shifted back to commemorating the 25th president. President Barack Obama had ordered it renamed Denali in 2015. AP said last month it will use the official name change to Mount McKinley because the area lies solely in the United States and Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names within the country.

David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social

Kashmir's Sufi music lovers are sticking with the audio cassette

2025-03-16 11:05 Last Updated At：11:12

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Farooq Ahmad Shaksaaz presses a button on his 1970 Sharp cassette player, and with a hefty clack the machine whirrs to life. As the Kashmiri tailor stitches, the machine crackles for a moment before Ghulam Ahmad Sofi's otherworldly voice fills his shop with verses about divine love and the pain of separation from the beloved creator of the universe.

Shaksaaz, a tailor in the Kashmiri city of Srinagar, inherited his passion for local Sufi music from his grandfather along with a meticulously preserved collection of audio cassette tapes from the 1970s, which he often listens to as he works.

He's part of a small, dedicated community that believes cassette tapes are the best way to listen to and archive the Sufi music of Indian-controlled Kashmir, where music inspired by local and central Asian Muslim saints has long been a deep expression of spirituality and emotion. Many people turn to the music for spiritual guidance, or seeking an escape from the region’s long periods of street battles, shutdowns and security clampdowns.

For decades, cassette players have carried the soul-stirring poetry of Sufi saints and the mystical melodies of Kashmiri instruments like the sarangi and santoor, and it's long been a local ritual for families to gather around the warm hum of a tape player. Even today, the region’s traditional Sufi music gatherings are often recorded only on the disappearing audio format, which was widely used from the 1970s to the 1990s.

While the music is increasingly available on digital formats, many Kashmiris say that it's best heard on cassette tapes.

“There is something unique about this machine that for me plays recordings of spiritual guides,” said Abdul Ahad, a carpet weaver. “It is a sacred ritual in itself to press the play button of a cassette player to listen to a song on spiritual moorings.”

Many of the most beloved albums were released by local record labels during the heyday of the audio cassette, but dedicated devotees of the genre are still bringing tape recorders to gatherings. Digital recorders are often unwelcome at these nightly music sessions, as Sufi music lovers say they blur together the distinct sounds of the different instruments.

“It is a different experience to listen to music on a tape recorder," said Abdul Hamid Khan. "Tapes are smooth and you can feel the sound of every instrument, you don’t get that feel in these new players.”

Still, as tapes wear out and more music moves to digital streaming platforms and smartphones, the tactile and deeply personal listening experience of cassettes is becoming harder to keep going.

Many families have been forced to part with their players due to mechanical failures, while others struggle to preserve their cherished cassette collections, some of which hold rare and irreplaceable recordings passed down through generations. Some collectors have turned to digitizing their old recordings to safeguard them for future generations.

Only a few shops in Srinagar, the region’s main city, sell tape recorders or blank tapes, and the availability of spare parts and skilled repair technicians has drastically dwindled.

A handful of mechanics in the Kashmir Valley still cater to a dedicated population of Sufi music lovers, painstakingly restoring machines made by beloved Japanese brands like Sharp and Kenwood in the last century.

Mohammad Ashraf Matoo, a self-taught mechanic, has spent years keeping decades-old cassette players running even as spare parts become increasingly scarce. He purchases non-functional recorders to extract usable components, and manufactures some parts himself to keep his customers' devices going. Once repaired, a well-functioning tape recorder is sold for a price between $150 and $850, depending on its brand and condition.

Shaksaaz, a lifelong Sufi music devotee, called it a “personal mission” to preserve the legacy of cassette tapes.

“It is a bridge to the past, a way to remain connected to our spiritual and cultural roots in this ever modernizing and digital world,” he said.