Protecting Our Free Press During A Time of Attacks On Journalists, Fake News, Rising Authoritarians

[appalachiablue]

'The U.S. is now one of the deadliest places for journalists, but we can save our free press,' Daily Kos, Feb. 6, 2021. ('7 Ways To Restore Our Press Freedoms Before We End Up With Another RW Dictatorship').

- Excerpts, Ed. -

Donald Trump’s time in office was defined by death, destruction, disarray, and multiple attacks on democracy. Yet we must never forget that Trump’s legacy also includes an evil milestone, reached in 2018, when the United States, for the first time ever, ranked among the top five deadliest countries for journalists. For context, other “top” nations were Afghanistan, Syria, Mexico, India, and Yemen. This was the same year that Trump first called the press “the enemy of the people.” Though 2020 and the Trump administration are in our rearview mirror, the situation has gotten even more dire. Disturbingly, the number of journalists killed worldwide in 2020 doubled from 2019.

We have to remember that a free press was viewed as so important to our foundational democracy, it was the only profession the Founding Fathers named in our Constitution. It’s the best, last hope against tyranny, which is exactly why authoritarians hate it so much. Trump’s purposeful attacks on the media not only encouraged violence against journalists in this country, but gave regimes elsewhere a blueprint to crack down on their own press. Dictators, from Bashir-Al Assad to Prince Mohammed bin Salman, used the Trumpian term “fake news” to justify their own violent attacks on journalists who attempted to hold them accountable.

The junta in Myanmar is using a similar argument to justify shutting down internet access amidst a coup.

There were so many abuses of power the past few years, Trump’s attacks against the media became background noise. After his failed presidency ended, CNN tried to chronicle Trump’s most egregious acts, & his attacks on the press didn’t even warrant a mention. Although Trump left many messes that need to be cleaned up, our First Amendment protections must be given a high priority. There’s plenty of things that President Joe Biden, & everyone, can do to help to strengthen those protections. It’s vital for the next time we face an authoritarian leader who may have a shred more competence than Trump.. Trump has a long history of expressing displeasure at unflattering stories about him, though his bruised ego took a particularly dark turn once he entered politics.

Once his campaign events devolved into hate rallies, the press became a frequent target of his ire. Security staff usually confined the press into closed pens at the back of the crowds, & the penalty for stepping out of these pens was severe.. At his seemingly weekly rallies, Trump would often point to the press & insult them, a habit cemented after his infamous impersonation of Serge Kovelski, a disabled New York Times reporter. At a rally in New Hampshire in 2015, Trump called the press “scum,” “horrible people,” & “illegitimate.” He pulled White House press credentials & threatened to “challenge” licenses with the FCC in response to coverage he perceived as unflattering. In 2017, then-WH chief strategist (& recent recipient of a Trump pardon) Steve Bannon started to refer to the press as the “opposition party.”

Soon afterwards, Trump doubled down on messaging that the press was the enemy.

By mid-2020, even The Federalist agreed with Trump that the media was “the enemy of the people.”...

More + comments,

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/2/6/2011464/-The-U-S-is-now-one-of-the-deadliest-places-for-journalists-but-we-can-save-our-free-press
_______________

- The Federalist is an American conservative online magazine & podcast that covers politics, policy, culture, & religion, & publishes a newsletter. During the COVID-19 pandemic, The Federalist published many pieces that contained false information or pseudoscience that was contrary to the recommendations of public health experts & authorities. While ballots were being counted in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, The Federalist made false claims that there had been large-scale election fraud...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Federalist_(website)