Freedom Of The Press Under Serious Attack

I'm just waiting for Trump to say: "Who will rid me of this meddlesome reporter?"

Rather than try to summarize what they say, I'm just going to link to three posts. The first is an article at Daily Kos by Sher Watts Spooner, entitled "How should journalism function in the age of Trump?"

Ms. Spooner presents a good, thorough discussion of the vilification of the press by Trump and his allies. For example, here's Newt Gingrich proposing a complete freezeout of the press:

He [Gingrich] argues that Trump, who hasn't held a news conference since July, should feel no obligation to hold any as president, suggesting instead he solicit questions from the public to answer. "The news media so totally disgraced itself in this election, if I were Trump I would just say no," Gingrich says. "And if the White House Correspondents’ Association doesn't like it, I'd say, 'Fine, disband.'"

Ms. Spooner points out: "I think we might disagree with the Newtster on exactly who was being the most disgraceful during the election."

She links to the two other articles I will link to. The first is the main subject of her post, a speech by Marty Baron. She says:

Baron, you might remember, served as editor of The Boston Globe when it exposed the priest sex scandals in the Catholic Church’s Boston archdiocese. His low-key character was played by Liev Schreiber in the film Spotlight, which won the Academy Award for best picture as well as a slew of other awards.

Baron spoke on receiving Vanity Fair's Hitchens Prize:

Marty Baron, the executive editor of The Washington Post, recently received the Hitchens Prize, honoring the memory and legacy of the late Vanity Fair contributing editor and columnist Christopher Hitchens. The award goes to a “journalist or author whose work reflects a commitment to free expression, a depth of intellect, and an unwavering pursuit of the truth.”

You can read a full transcript of Baron's speech here, in a post by Alejandro Martinez of the Knight Center at the University of Texas at Austin entitled "Journalism in the Americas."

The third piece I want to link to is also referenced in Ms. Spooner's article. Click here for an article at CPJ, the Committee to protect Journalists, by Christiane Amanpour. The occasion was Amanpour being honored with the Burton Benjamin Memorial Award for her extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom, on November 22, 2016.

Baron and Amanpour are stalwart figures in the battle the press is going to be forced to wage over the next four years. Both speeches are well worth the time.