The Associated Press is still refusing to refer to the Gulf of America by its new official name, despite the publication having previously changed its style guide to conform to the renaming of other geographical locations and ethnicities around the world.
The oceanic basin, settled between the southern coast of the United States and the northern coast of Mexico, was known as the Gulf of Mexico until President Donald Trump changed the name in an executive order on his first day back in office. While the order, referred to as “Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness,” only officially applies within the U.S., many companies that operate internationally, like Google, Chevron, Apple, are using the updated name.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press got itself indefinitely barred from the White House on Friday for repeatedly declining to update its style guide to recognize the Gulf of America, Breitbart News reported.
“The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen,” the outlet said in a statement. “As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.”
However, the AP changed its spelling of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev to Kyiv in 2019 in line with the county’s “preferred transliteration to English and increasing usage”:
AP has changed its style for the capital of Ukraine to Kyiv, in line with the Ukrainian government’s preferred transliteration to English and increasing usage. Include a reference in stories to the former spelling of Kiev. The food dish remains chicken Kiev.
— APStylebook (@APStylebook) August 14, 2019
“Ah so the AP *can* change its terminology to align with government definitions,” said Free Beacon editor Peter J. Hasson:
Ah so the AP *can* change its terminology to align with government definitions https://t.co/JpKF8JaFjS
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) February 15, 2025
In the aftermath of the 2020 George Floyd Black Lives Matter riots, the AP’s style guide also changed their capitalization of “black” to “Black,” in line with other ethnicities like “Asian” and “Latino,” but declined to do the same for “white”:
AP’s style is now to capitalize Black in a racial, ethnic or cultural sense, conveying an essential and shared sense of history, identity and community among people who identify as Black, including those in the African diaspora and within Africa.
— APStylebook (@APStylebook) June 19, 2020
As a global news organization, we are continuing to discuss within the U.S. and internationally whether to capitalize the term white. Considerations are many and include any implications that doing so might have outside the United States. We will have a decision within a month.
— APStylebook (@APStylebook) June 19, 2020
“The Associated Press continues to ignore the lawful geographic name change of the Gulf of America. This decision is not just divisive, but it also exposes the Associated Press’ commitment to misinformation,” White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich said Friday:
The Associated Press continues to ignore the lawful geographic name change of the Gulf of America. This decision is not just divisive, but it also exposes the Associated Press' commitment to misinformation. While their right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected…
— Taylor Budowich (@Taylor47) February 14, 2025
“While their right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected by the First Amendment, it does not ensure their privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One,” she added on X. “Going forward, that space will now be opened up to the many thousands of reporters who have been barred from covering these intimate areas of the administration. Associate[d] Press journalists and photographers will retain their credentials to the White House complex.”
