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Donald Trump has repeatedly denounced certain newspapers and news networks as "fake news" and "the enemy of the people." He has called reporters "dishonest." He has banned certain reporters from press conferences. And, even though he has no power to do so, he has threatened to revoke stations' broadcast licenses.
In February 2017, Senator John McCain said attacking the free press is one of the first steps a newly-empowered dictator takes. Indeed. Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Castro, Karimov, Afewerki, Qaddafi, Kim Jong Un and many others have waged war on the press. Trump is doing the same but the free press is starting to fight back. On August 16, more than a hundred newspapers nationwide will publish editorials on the importance of a free and independent press.
With the Boston Globe leading the way, US newspaper editorials will battle the Trump administration's 'assault on the press'
https://ktla.com/2018/08/11/with-bos...-on-the-press/
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Trump supporters who are swayed by Trump's never-ending attacks on the news media -- "Fake!" "Dishonest!" "Enemy of the people!" -- have begun cursing at reporters and making obscene gestures. They're one step away from physically assaulting reporters, not just in the US but worldwide.
UN human rights commissioner says Trump's attacks on news media are likely to lead to violence against journalists
https://nypost.com/2018/08/13/trumps...ournalists-un/
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Here is an update on the August 12 story above. Many radio and tv stations and around 350 newspapers will run editorials tomorrow supporting the free press and denouncing Trump's attacks on the news media. What is truly alarming is that 51% of Republicans now share Trump's opinion that the news media are "the enemy of the people." It is not only the news media that Trump and the Republicans are attacking. They are also attacking the United States Constitution, which declares, "Congress shall make no law ... abridging freedom of speech or of the press..."
Coast to coast and in between, local news media are standing up to Trump's attacks on the press
https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/15/med...ump/index.html
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Very predictably, Donald Trump took to Twitter today to again attack "fake news" and to accuse the Boston Globe of "collusion" for encouraging the nation's newspapers to run editorials affirming freedom of the press and denouncing Trump's attacks. Congressional Republicans may agree with Trump that the news media are the "enemy of the people" but I notice they didn't dare vote against this resolution:
Senate unanimously adopts resolution declaring 'the press is not the enemy of the people'
CBS News, Aug 16 2018 2:37 PM
The Senate unanimously passed a resolution today affirming that "the press is not the enemy of the people." President Trump has repeatedly declared that the "fake news" media is the "enemy of the people." The resolution, introduced by Democratic Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii, passed without objection by a voice vote.
"Resolved, that the Senate affirms that the press is not the enemy of the people; reaffirms the vital and indispensable role that the free press serves to inform the electorate, uncover the truth, act as a check on the inherent power of the government, further national discourse and debate, and otherwise advance the most basic and cherished democratic norms and freedoms of the United States; and condemns the attacks on the institution of the free press and views efforts to systematically undermine the credibility of the press as an attack on the democratic institutions of the United States," the resolution reads, without naming President Trump.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-...of-the-people/
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Here is a story that quotes some of the editorials about freedom of the press. The president needs to quit calling newspapers fake news every time they print something he does not like.
http://time.com/5369061/president-tr...ess-fake-news/
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Earlier this week, CNN, MSNBC, RT and BBC World News spent many hours reporting on the conviction of Trump's former campaign manager and the guilty pleas of Trump's longtime attorney. Fox News barely mentioned the stories -- but, hey, look how Trump is creating jobs and look how the economy is booming under Trump! Is it any wonder Trump's favorite channel is Fox News?
Second Fox News reporter leaves amid objections to network
In the Trump era, hard reporting is being crowded out by opinionated panels.
Politico, Aug 23 2018 11:37 PM
Another on-air reporter is leaving Fox News over frustrations with the direction and tone of the network, the second in the last three weeks to defect for those reasons. Adam Housley, a Los Angeles-based reporter who joined Fox in 2001, felt there was diminished opportunity at the network for reporters and disapproved of the tenor of its on-air discussion, according to two former Fox News employees with knowledge of his situation.
Housley believed that as the network’s focus on Trump has grown — and the number of talking-head panels during news shows proliferated — it had become difficult to get hard reporting on air. "He’s not doing the type of journalism he wants to be doing," the former employee said. "And he is unhappy with the tone of the conversation of the channel." Housley’s objections to the Trump-era Fox News are widely shared within the network’s reporting corps, according to current and former employees of the network. Conor Powell, the former Fox News Jerusalem bureau reporter, left the network earlier this month for similar reasons,
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...housley-795278
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In January, Trump imposed tariffs of as high as 20% on newsprint imported from Canada. To cover the additional expense, regional newspapers were forced to lay off employees, raise subscription prices or publish fewer days per week. A US trade commission just overturned the tariffs. Newspapers are dealing with steadily declining readership and declining ad sales and didn't need the added problem of being victimized by Donald Trump's trade wars.
Trump's tariffs on Canadian newsprimt are overturned
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/29/b...newsprint.html
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A 68-year-old man who owns 20 guns, which have now been seized by authorities, made 14 threatening phone calls to the Boston Globe. Using language I wouldn't dare repeat here, he said he would kill everyone in the newsroom. Echoing Trump's constant attacks on the news media, he called the newspaper "the enemy of the people." Not only is Trump dangerous, many of his followers are dangerous!
Man charged with making death threats against Boston Globe journalists over Trump editiorials
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-...ts-editorials/
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The weekly news magazine Time began publishing in 1923 and at its peak had 26,000,000 subscribers worldwide. In 2018, Time has only 2,300,000 subscribers and is published only 44 times a year. Marc and Lynne Benioff obviously think the magazine has a strong future.
Marc Benioff, co-founder of Salesforce, buys Time magazine
CBS News, Sep 17 2018
Meredith Corporation is selling Time magazine for $190 million in cash to Marc Benioff, one of four co-founders of Salesforce, and his wife Lynne. Benioff is a cloud computing pioneer and an executive known for social activism. The Benioffs will not be involved in the day-to-day operations or journalistic decisions at Time. Those decisions will continue to be made by Time's current executive leadership team.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marc-be...time-magazine/
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Like father, like son. Donald Trump Jr. today tweeted several nasty insults and accusations regarding Anderson Cooper's on-scene reports of the damage caused by Hurricane Florence in North Carolina. One accusation: Anderson was on his knees to make the flood waters appear higher than they really were. Junior also tweeted a picture of Anderson standing in the flood water.
The photo was actually of Anderson reporting on Hurricane Ike in 2008.
Because Junior's tweets were so nasty and so wrong -- and elicited so many comments of "Disgraceful!" and "Fake news!" -- Anderson, who usually does not respond to idiotic allegations, used a portion of his CNN program to debunk Junior's lies:
Anderson Cooper shuts down Trump Jr.'s lie
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/...kth-sot-ac.cnn