The Associated Press has updated its guidelines to state that it will adopt President Trump’s name change for Denali but will not apply the same approach to the Gulf of Mexico. On Thursday, Amanda Barrett, the AP’s vice president of standards and inclusion, explained that the news agency would follow some of the newly introduced name changes, though not all of them.
On the first day of his second term, President Trump signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” He also ordered the Alaskan mountain Denali to be renamed Mount McKinley. According to the AP’s announcement, Trump’s directive will be followed in the United States but not necessarily in other countries or international organizations.
“The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years,” the AP noted. “The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.” The AP clarified that, as a global news service, it must ensure that place names are recognized universally, making it important for international audiences to be able to identify locations correctly.
The news agency explained that, in some instances, it uses multiple names for specific locations. A case in point is the body of water located to the east of Baja California, which is referred to as the Gulf of California in the U.S., but known as the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.
Regarding the Alaskan mountain, the AP confirmed that it would adopt the official name change made by President Trump on Monday. The mountain was originally named after President McKinley, but former President Obama had renamed it Denali, a name reflecting its Native American heritage.
“The area lies solely in the United States and as president, Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names within the country,” the AP explained. The Associated Press Stylebook, an authoritative reference used by reporters around the world, will be updated to reflect both of these changes.
{Matzav.com}