The Associated Press is sticking with "Lake Ontario," presidential order or not. The news agency has informed journalists who follow its style guide to keep using the lake's long-established name, despite President Trump's move last month to rebrand it "Lake America" amid tensions with Canada over trade, reports the Washington Post. AP spokesman Patrick Maks said the executive order only governs how the US government labels the lake—it doesn't bind Canada or other countries.
"As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are recognizable to broad audiences," Maks said in his statement. The AP will note Trump's preferred name when relevant. The stance echoes AP's approach last year, when it refused to swap "Gulf of Mexico" for "Gulf of America," a clash that helped trigger a White House ban on AP reporters and a drawn-out First Amendment fight.
Prominent Canadians seem to back the AP's stance. "It's Lake Ontario to Canadians and the rest of the world. Now and forever," Ontario Premier Doug Ford recently wrote online, per the AP. The Toronto Star notes that the AP style guide did adopt Trump's change regarding the highest peak in North America, now referring to it as Mount McKinley instead of its Indigenous-inspired name, Denali. That's because, per the AP, "the area lies solely in the United States and as president, Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names within the country."
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
