A US district judge rules that AP should be allowed access to the Oval Office and Air Force One, a right that was taken away because of the agency’s decision to refer to the Gulf of Mexico in its reporting.
The US court for the District of Columbia has ordered the White House to lift a ban on the Associated Press from attending events in the Oval Office and on Air Force One that was imposed on the agency over its editorial policies.
«Defendants shall immediately rescind the denial of the AP’s access to the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other limited spaces based on the AP’s viewpoint when such spaces are made open to other members of the White House press pool,» a court document read on Tuesday.
In February, the Associated Press sued White House officials over denial of access to events involving the US president. The agency was barred from the Oval Office and Air Force One after it refused to use the «Gulf of America» in its reports when covering the Gulf of Mexico. The AP argues the ban violated its First Amendment rights.
