WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press is returning to a federal courtroom on Thursday to ask a judge to restore its full access to presidential events, after the White House retaliated against the news outlet last month for not following President Trump’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
In a hearing last month, U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden refused the AP’s request for an injunction to stop the White House from barring reporters and photographers from events in the Oval Office and Air Force One. He urged the Trump administration to reconsider its ban before Thursday’s hearing. It hasn't.
“It seems pretty clearly viewpoint discrimination,” McFadden told the government's attorney at the time.
The AP has sued Trump’s team for punishing a news organization for using speech that it doesn’t like. The news outlet said it would still refer to the Gulf of Mexico in its style guidance to clients around the world, while also noting that Trump has ordered it renamed the Gulf of America.
“For anyone who thinks the Associated Press’s lawsuit against President Trump’s White House is about the name of a body of water, think bigger,” Julie Pace, the AP’s executive editor, wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. “It’s really about whether the government can control what you say.”
The White House said it has the right to decide who gets to question the president, and has taken steps to take over a duty that has been handled by journalists for decades.
The president has dismissed the AP as a group of “radical left lunatics” and said that “we’re going to keep them out until such time as they agree that it’s the Gulf of America.”
The AP has still covered the president, and has been permitted in White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s press briefings, but the ban has cost the organization time in reporting and impeded its efforts to get still images. Even if McFadden rules in favor of the news organization, it’s unclear how the White House will respond to the judge’s order.
The White House Correspondents' Association has asked its members to show solidarity with the AP on Thursday, perhaps by showing up at the courtroom or wearing a pin that signifies the importance of the First Amendment.
The case is one of several aggressive moves the second Trump administration has taken against the press since his return to office, including FCC investigations against ABC, CBS and NBC News, dismantling the government-run Voice of America and threatening funding for public broadcasters PBS and NPR.
A Trump executive order to change the name of the United States’ largest mountain back to Mount McKinley from Denali is being recognized by the AP. Trump has the authority to do so because the mountain is completely within the country he oversees, AP has said.
Writing in the Journal, Pace said the AP didn’t ask for the fight and made efforts to resolve the issue before going to court, but needed to stand on principle.
“If we don’t step up to defend Americans’ right to speak freely," she wrote, "who will?”
David Bauder covers media for The Associated Press.
FILE - The Associated Press logo is shown at the entrance to the news organization's office in New York on Thursday, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Aaron Jackson, File
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Richard Chamberlain, the handsome hero of the 1960s television series "Dr. Kildare" who found a second career as an award-winning "king of the miniseries," has died. He was 90.
Chamberlain died Saturday night in Waimanalo, Hawaii, of complications following a stroke, according to his publicist, Harlan Boll.
“Our beloved Richard is with the angels now. He is free and soaring to those loved ones before us," Martin Rabbett, his lifelong partner, said in a statement. "How blessed were we to have known such an amazing and loving soul. Love never dies. And our love is under his wings lifting him to his next great adventure.”
Tall, with classic good looks and romantic style, Chamberlain became an instant favorite with teenage girls as the compassionate physician on the TV series that aired from 1961 to 1966. Photoplay magazine named him most popular male star for three years in a row, from 1963-65.
Not until 2003 did he acknowledge publicly what Hollywood insiders had long known, that he was gay. He made the revelation in his autobiography, "Shattered Love."
The actor became known as "king of the TV miniseries" in 1978 when he landed the starring role in "Centennial," an epic production 24 hours long and based on James Michener's sprawling novel. He followed that in 1980 with "Shogun," another costly, epic miniseries based on James Clavell's period piece about an American visitor to Japan.
He scored his greatest miniseries success in 1983 with another long-form drama, "The Thorn Birds," based on Colleen McCullough's best-seller. He played Father Ralph de Bricassart, a Roman Catholic priest in Australia who falls in love with beautiful Meggie Cleary (Rachel Ward). The ABC production, which also starred Barbara Stanwyck, reportedly attracted 100 million viewers.
Chamberlain won Golden Globes for his work in “Shogun" and “The Thorn Birds.” Years earlier, he received one for “Dr. Kildare.”
When the public began to lose interest in miniseries, Chamberlain turned to the theater, where he displayed a fine singing voice. He appeared as Henry Higgins in a 1994 Broadway revival of "My Fair Lady" and as Captain von Trapp in a 1999 revival of "The Sound of Music."
He reprised his role of de Bricassart in the 1996 TV movie "The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years."
He also appeared in numerous films, including "The Music Lovers" (as Tchaikovsky), "The Madwoman of Chaillot," "The Towering Inferno" and "The Three Musketeers" and its sequels.
The "Kildare" series was based on a string of successful 1930s and '40s films that had starred Lew Ayres in the title role.
Chamberlain's hunky, all-American appearance made him an overnight star. Another medical show that debuted the same season, "Ben Casey," also was a smash and made its leading man, the darkly handsome Vince Edwards, a star, too.
The "Ben Casey shirt" became a fashion item, both shows' theme songs made the pop Top 40 (the Kildare song performed by Chamberlain himself) and there was even a pop song called "Dr. Kildare! Dr. Casey! You Are Wanted for Consultation."
But in his book, Chamberlain recounted how he was forced to hide his sexuality. He would escort glamorous actresses to movie premieres and other public events at the request of studio executives and dodge reporters' questions about why he had never married with a stock reply: "Getting married would be great, but I'm awfully busy now."
"When I grew up, being gay, being a sissy or anything like that was verboten," he said in an NBC interview. "I disliked myself intensely and feared this part of myself intensely and had to hide it."
The book also described a troubled childhood and an alcoholic father, and Chamberlain said that writing it finally lifted a heavy emotional burden. He also expressed relief that he was no longer hiding his sexuality.
"I played a cat-and-mouse game with the press. Game over," said Chamberlain.
Born George Richard Chamberlain in Beverly Hills on March 31, 1934, the actor originally studied at Pomona College to be a painter. But after returning from the Army, where he had served as an infantry clerk in the Korean War, Chamberlain decided to try acting.
He studied voice and drama, and after appearing in guest roles in a handful of TV shows and in the 1960 film "The Secret of the Purple Reef," he won the Dr. Kildare role.
When “Dr. Kildare” was canceled he initially found it difficult to shake the image of the handsome young physician.
He moved to England for a time to find work and hone his acting skills. While there, he appeared in three of director Richard Lester’s films, “Petulia” (1968), “The Three Musketeers” (1973) and “The Four Musketeers” (1974). He reunited with Lester in 1989 for “The Return of the Musketeers,” once more playing Aramis.
In 1969, Chamberlain played the title role in “Hamlet” at England’s Birmingham Repertory Company and repeated it in a TV adaptation that appeared on NBC in the United States. He also appeared as Octavius in a film version of “Julius Caesar,” which co-starred Charlton Heston and Jason Robards.
He continued to act well into the 21st century, appearing on such television shows as “Will & Grace,” “The Drew Carey Show” and “Touched by an Angel.”
Bob Thomas, a longtime Associated Press journalist who died in 2014, was the principal writer of this obituary.
FILE - Actor Richard Chamberlain waves during a news conference in Berlin, Oct. 10, 1995. (AP Photo/ Jan Bauer, file)
FILE - This June 27, 2012, photo shows actor Richard Chamberlain in Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, file)
