Danger in the news
This last year has been dangerous for journalists around the globe. A record 262 men and women are imprisoned because of the nature of the work they do, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. It’s part of a disturbing trend of attacking and undermining institutions that exist to hold public officials accountable and to bring light into some of the darkest corners of the world.
Turkey and Egypt—U.S. allies—and China account for about half of the detained journalists, but the problem extends widely. Last week two Reuters staffers who had been working on stories about the Myanmar government’s violent ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya in Rakhine State were arrested under that country’s Official Secrets Act, a journalist writing about corruption was jailed in Tajikistan, and a French documentary filmmaker was detained in Kashmir by Indian authorities.
Most appalling is that the list of 262 includes some journalists who were nabbed a decade ago or longer by governments that have refused to divulge their whereabouts or even whether they are alive. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 37 journalists were killed this year; 13 of them murdered and the rest killed covering combat or working in other risky conditions.
President Trump doesn’t bear the responsibility for these deaths and internments. But his attacks of critical coverage as “fake news” has given cover to regimes that not only have oppressed journalists, but seek to discredit their work.
Since before he won the election, Trump has worked like no other mainstream U.S. political figure to undermine national institutions, from Congress and the courts to the media. Addicted to the spotlight, Trump is incapable of accepting coverage that legitimately exposes errors and shortcomings of his administration, and seems to awaken every morning with a chip on his shoulder bearing the logo of whatever news outlet he happens to be picking a fight with at the time.
Pushback against negative coverage is reasonable and expected, but Trump’s efforts to sow doubt about the nature and mission of news organizations veers into dangerous territory. His disregard for a free press fits in with his administration’s abdication of America’s traditional role as defender of human rights around the world. Instead of giving repressive governments cover, he should be calling out regimes that lock away or kill those who would question them.