I object to the Trump administration’s recent actions to punish The Associated Press for its decision to not change the name of the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America” in its heralded style guide that is used around the world. This action signals a much broader and troubling trend, used by autocratic rulers around the world, to block access when the “state” does not like the reporting.

In October, before the election was called, Columbia Journalism Review wrote about the news media and anticipatory obedience and highlighted ways then candidate Trump is copying Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban’s “autocratic technique of using the regulatory state to punish media outlets whose coverage he dislikes.”

Ethical journalism is a bulwark for democracy. The press, or “Fourth Estate,” is the only industry granted special rights and freedoms in the Constitution. Our democracy starts to weaken if press organizations do not exercise those rights and become captured by any political party or administration. As a reader and subscriber to this publication, I call on you to stand up for the AP through a public statement and ask the White House Correspondents’ Association to boycott any future press events that block access to The Associated Press.

Jeanne Barron

Northampton