FOR THE WEEK OF DEC. 09, 2024

'An anti-press extremist:' Trump hostility revives concern among journalists and media leaders

American journalism is preparing for what may be a defining test under incoming President Donald Trump, who won a second term last month and is a harsh critic of mainstream news-gatherers. He has labeled journalists "enemies of the people," popularized the phrase "fake news" and blocked journalists from rallies and White House events. Trump also has said that reporters who publish leaked information should go to jail and his choice for FBI director, Kash Patel, vows to "go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media." The Freedom of the Press Foundation, a nonprofit in Brooklyn, N.Y., describes the president-elect as "an anti-press extremist obsessed with punishing journalists and news outlets who criticize him." In response, the Republican National Committee says: "President Trump was a champion for free speech. Everyone was safer under President Trump, including journalists."

Still, the media-bashing fuels worries. "He does not understand that the press is there to help citizens hold him accountable," Columbia Journalism School faculty member Margaret Sullivan, a former New York Times and Washington Post columnist, said two weeks ago on a podcast hosted by The New Republic magazine. "Journalists are going to have to be courageous and are going to have to have great legal backing from their editors and from their publishers and from their legal departments. . . . It's going to be, I'm afraid, a wild and disturbing ride."

Although press freedom is enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution, presidents have ways to punish news outlets or reporters:

• Trump could urge the Justice Department to investigate reporters and their employers for using certain information.
• The government could seek notes and sources' identities, as previous administrations of both parties have done, with the threat of possible jail time for contempt of court if judges are supportive. At a 2022 rally in Ohio, Trump said reporters wouldn't be his only legal targets if he believed national security were involved: "The publisher too — or the top editors."
• Trump could ask federal regulators to revoke a TV or radio station's broadcast license because of alleged unfairness, dishonesty or objectionable content. (Networks are not licensed, except as owners of individual stations.)
• He could push Congress to weaken libel laws to make it easier to sue news outlets.
• "I think he'll classify more [documents] and scale back things like the Freedom of Information Act," says Marty Baron, a former Washington Post editor-in-chief.
• He also could pressure media owners with other business interests, who are dependent on federal regulators for approval of mergers and takeovers.

During the first Trump administration (2017-21), he used the Justice Department to surveil reporters and said viewers and sponsors should boycott CNN to force "big changes" at the cable network.

"Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, said last week that he'll try to talk Trump out of threatening or trying to punish to the media, adding, "The press is not the enemy, let's go persuade him of this." At The New York Times, executive editor Joseph Kahn said in October: "We shouldn't pretend that protections for the press are only vulnerable in a place like Hungary or Turkey. They are also vulnerable here." A former newspaper editor and reporter, Paul Horvitz, posted recently on Substack that the Republican's return to office Jan. 20 "demands a far more assertive, scrappy and resolute press." At the national Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York, program director Katherine Jacobsen says: "What we're really concerned about moving forward is how Trump's rhetoric from this latest campaign will trickle down into actual actions, both taken by him and his associates at a national level and by politicians and other individuals at a local level."

Nominee says: "We're going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections." – Kash Patel, choice for FBI director

Retired editor says: "Any attack on the free press is not just an attack on the free press. The intent is to suppress free expression overall." – Marty Baron, editor-in-chief of The Washington Post from 2013-21.

NPR host says: "It's kind of sad that the kind of work the Committee to Protect Journalists had to do in dictatorships and authoritarian governments, they're starting to have to do here in the U.S." – Teri Gross, National Public Radio

Front Page Talking Points Archive

Common Core State Standard
SL.CCS.1/2/3/4 Grades 6-12: An essay of a current news event is provided for discussion to encourage participation, but also inspire the use of evidence to support logical claims using the main ideas of the article. Students must analyze background information provided about a current event within the news, draw out the main ideas and key details, and review different opinions on the issue. Then, students should present their own claims using facts and analysis for support.