AP’s return to the White House is a win for the American public (Guest Opinion by Roy S. Gutterman)

Roy S. Gutterman is a professor and director of the Tully Center for Free Speech at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.

When it comes to the press and the First Amendment, wins seem scarce these days. But the Associated Press prevailed in a federal lawsuit Tuesday, with a judge ordering the news service to be put back on a level playing field covering the White House.

The AP, one of the world’s largest news services, was notably kicked out of the White House press pool for its editorial decision to continue calling the body of water bordering Texas, Louisiana and Florida the Gulf of Mexico, instead of the president’s recent renaming of it to the Gulf of America.

U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden wrote that the AP’s exclusion was nothing more than a blatant form of content discrimination. His opinion made ample references to the First Amendment and the history of access to governmental institutions, tracing justifications all the way back to James Madison, the principal author of the First Amendment.

The AP’s win in court is an important decision because it should put one of the world’s most integral news services back in the White House press pool. The White House’s exclusion of the AP was punitive and could not be justified under the First Amendment, and the court agreed on that.

The opinion, rich in historical references, acknowledges that the AP was not looking for special treatment or special access, which no news outlet is entitled to by right. But the AP must be in the pool so the rest of us can stay informed.

“No, the Court simply holds that under the First Amendment, if the Government opens its doors to some journalists—be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere—it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints. The Constitution requires no less,” McFadden wrote.

In its court filings, the AP explained how the exclusion impeded its news operation. Any reporter can testify that it is impossible to cover the news when they are excluded from the location of the news itself.

But this case was not just about the Associated Press or any individual reporter. It was about the American public and the world, for that matter, missing out on public information. Every action and movement by the president is news and historic.

The AP has been in the presidential press pool for more than a century. Its lawsuit calling for reinstating access, the AP points out that the press pool — a small group of journalists that follows the president — serves as the eyes and ears of the larger press corps and the public itself. Historically, the AP has almost always had at least one reporter and photographer in the presidential press pool.

Its lawsuit, the AP noted its historical significance when covering the president. In 1881, the AP provided pool news from the White House following President James A. Garfield’s shooting and subsequent death.

In 1963, AP reporters were in President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade that fateful day in Dallas, providing the world with the news. And, on Sept. 11, 2001, AP reporters were covering President George W. Bush at an event in Florida when he was told of the attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. They were on Air Force One and later told the world what was happening.

AP and the presidential press pool reports on history as it is happening. Excluding such a historical source of neutral, fact-based news impairs the free flow of information, which transcends political party. Empowering the president to determine who gets into the press pool to cover him violates the First Amendment.

The court decision does make reasonable note that there is no inherent right of access to all places by all reporters all the time. The courts have always been firm on that. Also, the decision also points out that the opinion does not compel the president to grant special access to any reporter in particular. The president is free to grant interviews to anyone he wants and not grant interviews to entities he does not want.

But among the 1,355 reporters covering the White House, 1% or 2% have credentials for the White House press pool, which grants access to limited-space events like the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room and Air Force One. The pool is limited but the AP has always been in it.

These days, a dispute over who gets to cover the president may seem tangential or even a media “insider” issue, especially with all the economic and political chaos swirling around Washington, the world and now Main Street. But this is exactly the reason why news outlets like the AP have to be in the room.

For more than a century, the AP has been recording the first draft of history — whether it is the president or the rest of the world. Today, we need that independent, factual view more than ever before. The historians of tomorrow will need it then.