Trump’s attacks on the press threaten a critical check on government – San Bernardino Sun

No president of the United States has ever loved the American news media. 

Most have barely tolerated the institution that our Founding Fathers called the Fourth Estate.  The press were to be a watchdog of the government, which the Founding Fathers distrusted.  

If the news media are doing their job, print, broadcast and digital media are holding politicians accountable for their actions, educating the public about government at all levels and uncovering wrongdoing when they find it. 

The last president who seemed to enjoy the give-and-take with the media was John F. Kennedy. He would privately have drinks after work with reporters and was a close friend to Ben Bradley, who became editor of the Washington Post. 

But no president—not even Richard Nixon —has openly hated the news media and acted on it as much as President Donald J. Trump. During his second campaign for the presidency, President Trump labeled the news media “the enemy of the people.”  

Once elected, retaliation by the president was swift. There has been a full-out assault on the news media. With actions, not just rhetoric.

• He personally sued CBS’ “60 Minutes” for $20 billion claiming a filmed interview with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris was edited in such a way as to make her look better. Trump called it election interference.  CBS’ parent company, Paramount, needs the Federal Communications Commission’s permission to finish the sale to Skydance, an entertainment company.
• The White House banned the venerable Associated Press (AP) from access to various events and activities because The AP refused to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in stories, which Trump demanded. The federal courts have reversed the full ban, but the wire service has still not regained the same level of access it previously had.
• The Administration, with the support of Republicans in Congress, has threatened to defund both the independently-run Public Broadcasting System (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) because they are allegedly “left leaning.”  Additionally, the Federal Communications Commission is investigating whether NPR and PBS stations are broadcasting “underwriting” announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements. 
• Trying to crack down on leaks from within the administration, the Justice Department will once again use subpoenas, court orders and search warrants to hunt for government officials who make “unauthorized disclosures” to journalists. The action reverses a Biden administration policy that protected journalists from having their phone records secretly seized during leak investigations — a practice long decried by news organizations and press freedom groups.
• The administration is shuttering or dramatically cutting back on staffing the Freedom of Information Act offices of nearly all federal agencies.  These are the staffers who are required to review and release government documents—with exceptions of course—to the media and the public upon request.

And these are only a few examples. 

President Trump has every right to criticize the news media, and he has plenty of company. Over the last three decades, public confidence in the accuracy and credibility of the media has plummeted, though support for the First Amendment continues.