THE WHITE HOUSE blocked an Associated Press (AP) reporter from an event in the Oval Office after demanding the news agency alter its style on the Gulf of Mexico.

President Donald Trump has ordered the area to be renamed the Gulf of America.

The reporter, whom the AP would not identify, was turned away when attempting to enter the White House event yesterday. A second AP reporter was barred from a late-evening event in the White House Diplomatic Room.

The highly unusual ban, which Trump administration officials had threatened earlier in the day unless the AP changed the style on the Gulf, could have constitutional free-speech implications in the US.

The agency’s senior vice president and executive editor Julie Pace called the administration’s move unacceptable.

“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” she said in a statement.

“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 Trump administration made no immediate announcements about the moves and there was no indication any other journalists were affected.

Trump has long had an adversarial relationship with the media. On Friday, the administration ejected a second group of news organisations from Pentagon office space.

Before his January 20 inauguration, Trump announced plans to change the Gulf of Mexico’s name to the Gulf of America, signing an executive order to do so as soon as he was in office.

The body of water — named the Gulf of Mexico for more than 400 years — also borders Mexico. Mexico’s president responded sarcastically and others noted that the name change would probably not affect global usage.

The AP said last month it would continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico while noting Trump’s decision to rename it as well. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP says it must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognisable to all audiences.

The White House Correspondents Association called the White House move unacceptable and called on the administration to change course.

“The White House cannot dictate how news organisations report the news, nor should it penalise working journalists because it is unhappy with their editors’ decision,” said the association’s president Eugene Daniels.

This week, Google Maps began using Gulf of America, for users in the saying it had a “long-standing practice” of following the US government’s lead on such matters. Users from outside the US will see both Gulf of Mexico and Gulf of America.

Apple Maps has also changed to Gulf of America on some browsers in the past 24 hours, though at least one search produced results for both.

Trump also decreed that the mountain in Alaska known as Mount McKinley and then by its Indigenous name, Denali, be shifted back to commemorating the 25th president. President Barack Obama had ordered it renamed Denali in 2015.

AP said last month it will use the official name change to Mount McKinley because the area lies solely in the United States and Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names within the country.

With reporting by PA