Hours after more than 300 U.S. news outlets published scathing editorials defending the freedom of the press and condemning U.S. President Donald Trump’s attacks against the profession, the president doubled down with a tweet saying, in all caps, that “THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA IS THE OPPOSITION PARTY.”
Trump went on to say that the “fake news” is “very bad for our Great Country… BUT WE ARE WINNING!”
Last week, The Boston Globe put out a call to action inviting newspapers across the country to join them in publishing editorials to defend journalists against the president’s “dirty war.”
Throughout his campaign and after he was elected, Trump has regularly derided the media, labelling them as “fake news” and calling them the “enemy of the people.”
On Aug. 5, for instance, the president tweeted: “The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only because they know it’s TRUE. I am providing a great service by explaining this to the American People. They purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!”
In fact, Trump has used the term “fake news” in 292 tweets since December 2016, according to the Twitter Archive.
In response to The Boston Globe’s request, more than 300 news outlets across the U.S., along with a few international publications, printed editorials promoting the free press with many using the hashtag #EnemyofNone.
What have the newspapers said?
The Boston Globe: The newspaper that initiated the campaign published an editorial on Wednesday titled “Journalists are not the enemy.” In the piece, the editorial board wrote that the liberty of the press has been a foundational American principle for more than two centuries. They also wrote that it is “un-American” and “dangerous” to label the media the enemy of the people.
The New York Times: In an editorial with the headline “A Free Press Needs You,” the national paper echoed The Boston Globe’s sentiment that it’s dangerous to call the media “fake news” and asked people to subscribe to their local papers and praise them when they’ve done good work and criticize them when they haven’t. They also published excerpts from the editorials of smaller publications.
The Philadelphia Inquirer: The morning daily wrote that Trump’s war on the press is a war on democracy and cited Philadelphia’s history as the “birthplace of democracy” and also one of the “birthplaces of a free press” and that it intends to continue that legacy.
Chicago Sun-Times: The daily newspaper said they were confident Americans know that Trump is wrong in calling journalists the “enemy of the people.” Rather, the paper claims its staff are pretty fond of “the people” and are instead enemies of “unchecked authority,” “undeserved privilege,” and “self-entitlement” to name a few.
The Baltimore Sun: Employing a measured tone, the newspaper’s editorial board revealed they had “mixed emotions” about The Boston Globe’s call. The paper wrote that while they agree labelling journalists as the “enemy of the people” is damaging to democracy, they were concerned about joining a “coordinated” response from the “mainstream” media because it “feeds a narrative that we’re somehow aligned against this Republican president.”
Ultimately, however, the newspaper said they were compelled to point out the value of a free press regardless of how it looks.
The Orlando Sentinel: In its editorial titled “President Trump, the press isn’t the ‘enemy’ – it’s America’s watchdog,” the paper writes that the president is putting journalists in danger and references the shooting of five people at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Maryland in June. The paper also quoted the United Nations high commissioner for human rights who said on Monday that Trump’s anti-press statements are “close” to inciting violence against journalists.
The Wall Street Journal: The prominent publication chose to refrain from participating because it said it goes against the independence that editorial boards seek. The paper also said that Trump has the right to criticize the press under the First Amendment. “Mr. Trump enjoys free speech just as his media adversaries do,” the column said.
