Thank you, Associated Press

When President Donnie punished the Associated Press for not obeying his orders, it brought back ancient memories from the `70s, when I began my journalism career at a small newspaper in the suburbs of Connecticut.

I was young and naive. My first effort at writing a story brought an editor to my desk, who informed me, in so many words, that I didn't even know what I didn't know. Like…

Writing names. You don’t call someone Billy Bob Jones, even if that’s what everyone calls him. You call him by his official name. In this case, William B. Jones.

With that this editor dumped an AP stylebook on my desk and said: "This is your bible. Read it and memorize it by tomorrow!"

That night I dutifully opened it to page one, where I read the following…

“Airport…Capitalize as part of a proper name: La Guardia Airport, Newark International Airport…Do not make up names, however. There is no Boston Airport, for example. The Boston airport (lowercase airport) would be acceptable if for some reason the proper name, Logan International Airport, were not used.”

And so on and so forth all the way to the zees, where I read: “Use all-caps ZIP for Zone Improvement Program, but always lowercase the word code.”

Or would have read, had I not fallen asleep somewhere in the bees.  Okay, okay--so it's not exactly Stephen King.

The good, old AP stylebook always comes in handy...

Over the years, I learned to appreciate the AP stylebook. Still have the copy the editor gave me–still turn to it for advice which I don't always follow. As sometimes I reserve the right to do it my way.

One thing the AP stylebook doesn’t tell journalists is what to do when a tyrant commands you to print his fiction as fact.

As when Trump commanded that from here on out the Gulf of Mexico would be known as the Gulf of America. Even though Trump doesn’t have the authority to unilaterally change the name of a geographical location that’s not wholly within the confines of the US of A. Or as AP put it…

“President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The body of water has shared borders between the U.S. and Mexico. Trump’s order only carries authority within the United States. Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change.

"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. 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.”

In retaliation, Trump kicked the AP reporters off of Air Force One and out of the Oval Office for some news events. In effect, punishing them for asserting their First Amendment protected right to call the gulf whatever they want to call the gulf without suffering the tyrant’s wrath.

I'm waiting for Joe Rogan, Elon Musk and the rest of MAGA's so-called free-speech defenders to stand up for the First Amendment on this one. Looks like it's gonna be a long wait.

In their absence, let me say thank you, AP, for standing up for your principles. Every little bit of resistance helps.