• by Ray Schultz , October 28, 2025

Contrary to President Trump’s wishes, news outlets have not switched from Gulf of Mexico (GoM) to Gulf of America (GoA).  

An analysis by Joshua Benton, the senior writer and former director of the Nieman Journalism Lab, shows that newsrooms are not following Trump’s executive order to change the name, despite AP’s expulsion from the Oval Office for adhering to GoM. 

Benton asked more than a dozen news organizations “and nearly all who got back to me said they were sticking with Gulf of Mexico. (The exception: newspaper chain Gannett, which said it would use both.)”

For instance, based on the Nexis database of U.S. newspapers, the ratio of GoM was 8.234x, compared to 1.48x in February. 

Newspapers.com shows that GoM “is in the lead month after month,” although by a tighter trendline. 

One complicating factor is the many stories have been written about the name change, using both names. But in September, “when stories used only one of the names, GoM appeared 10.28× more often than GoA.” 

Newspapers in the Gulf Coast region are more likely to use GoM in connection with weather-related events or danger. 

Benton continues that, as a “regular reader of newspapers in the region, I can tell you many are happy to fall back on 'Gulf Coast' or just 'the Gulf' when possible. When you say 'the Gulf' in Pensacola, no one is thinking Tonkin.)"