With Google and Apple renaming The Gulf of Mexico "The Gulf of America" in their mapping services to honor Donald Trump's whimsical executive order, anticipatory compliance seems to be corporate America's favored coping strategy for his second administration. But not all are following suit. The Associated Press is sticking with the gulf's real name (despite the White House insisting it is now a "lie") and there seems to be little international interest in changing how they refer to what remain international waters. Encyclopedia Britannica speaks for many—and explains why it dismisses the idea.
Encyclopædia Britannica will continue to use 'Gulf of Mexico' for a few reasons:
-We serve an international audience, a majority of which is outside the U.S.
-The Gulf of Mexico is an international body of water, and the U.S.'s authority to rename it is ambiguous.
-It has been called the 'Gulf of Mexico' for more than 425 years.But it's important to note the distinction between international and domestic areas. President Trump has also signed an executive order to change the name of the Alaskan mountain called 'Denali' back to its former name, 'Mount McKinley.' When that change is made official by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, we will also make that change. Just as we did in 2015 when President Barack Obama changed the name of 'McKinley' to 'Denali.'
The Associated Press has been excluded twice now from White House briefings for not using the term "Gulf of America" when relevant in its coverage.
As a global news organization, The Associated Press informs billions of people around the world every day with factual, nonpartisan journalism.
Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump's executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office. This afternoon AP's reporter was blocked from attending an executive order signing.
It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism. 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 reactionary interest in "free speech" is as it always has been: a "for me but not for thee" thing.
Previously:
• Creepy AF: Karoline Leavitt attacks AP over its 'lie' that Gulf of America has another name (video)
• Citizen science in the Gulf of Mexico
