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VIEWPOINT - In the continuing cascade of astonishing initiatives – masked immigrant raids on businesses, strange machinations surrounding the Epstein controversy, a make-over of the Rose Garden, the names of football and baseball teams, tariffs which may or may not be real – it is all too easy to lose track of at least one truly offensive and dangerous Trump administration assault.
The President has engineered a thus-far successful full-on, no holds barred attack on journalism, defying the bedrock First Amendment principle that guarantees a free press. Using tactics designed to impede or imperil the ability of a variety of journalistic enterprises to do their job, Donald Trump poses a direct threat to a free press and the public’s right to know.
Since he took office, President Trump has sued ABC in a claim of defamation, CBS for alleged “false” edits of an interview with Kamala Harris and, most recently, the Wall Street Journal for exposing a birthday card Trump allegedly sent to Jeffery Epstein. He has also “clawed back” funding for PBS and NPR, funding which Congress had already approved before he forced them to take it back. He has also denied the press routine access to White House press conferences and briefings and now he “demands” that the press corps stop questioning him about Epstein. In short, there is no aspect of news reporting which the President has not attacked.
The lawsuits are especially offensive since they have a distinct look and feel of pure extortion. The President files suits seeking enormous damages and then negotiates a settlement in which he reaps awards which typically rise to $15 million dollars or more. The stink of extortion ran even deeper in the CBS suit. That enterprise was awaiting FCC approval of a merger when Trump sued them; once CBS agreed to pay out a settlement, the merger suddenly won approval from Trump-appointed commissioners.
These lawsuits are even more vexing because most First Amendment scholars and lawyers agree that they were so egregious that courts would be hard-pressed to proceed with them, never mind rule in Trump’s favor.
Thus far, these bait-and-switch lawsuits have served the President well. That should be a surprise, but it is not. That is because the President understands how the media landscape has changed. For decades, the press in America was free because those who aired or published news understood that their mission was vital to the democratic process – report the facts and let the voters decide. Somewhere along the way, that dedication to public service was supplanted by the desire to generate greater profits. As the generation of reporters and news anchors including Walter Cronkite, Ed Murrow, Dan Rather, and John Chancellor left the stage, news organizations came under the spell of conglomerates and MBAs who view news as an annoyance at best and a liability at worst. What was once a celebration of public service fell before the desire to make more money.
Trump’s understanding of that shift gives him a power which, to date, has been far more persuasive than any constitutional obligation the media should – but does not – honor.
There are two remedies available to stem this wretched pattern. One, oddly, rests with one of the President’s most reliable allies: Rupert Murdoch owns the Wall Street Journal. It is possible that, at last, this most recent victim of corrosive litigation will stand up and say, “The First Amendment clearly protects our reporting, and we proudly assert our right to publish stories which we have carefully researched and vetted.” If or when that happens, the second option may emerge: if just one reputable news operation stands and fights, others may find their spines. Just as colleges and universities are exploring the potential for an alliance to reject Trump’s assault on education, so might the journalism universe stand as one and fight back.
The alternative, to remain cowed and surrender without a whimper, is a choice which is just as dangerous – if not more so – than the President’s destruction of our free press.
(David M. Hamlin’s commentaries appear regularly on Citywatch/LA. He also writes short stories and mystery novels – learn more at www.dmhwrites.com.)
