Mr. President, press not ‘enemy’ — it’s America’s watchdog

President Donald Trump uses this nation’s highest office to attack one of our country’s core principles, and it has to stop.

A free press, empowered by the First Amendment, serves as a watchdog over every level of American government, from City Hall to the White House.

By labeling news reports he disagrees with as “fake news,” the president is trying to discredit the journalists this country relies on to keep watch and inform.

And even worse, President Trump demonizes journalists, calling them the “enemy of the American people” and “dangerous and sick.”

A president’s criticizing the press is nothing new. But a president’s trying to escape scrutiny by declaring the press the nation’s enemy goes too far.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and its sister news organization, the Orlando Sentinel, are joining others across the country to call on President Trump to stop his assault on the free press.

The president’s attempting to damage the credibility of the press by calling journalists the enemy also risks putting them in danger.

The country is still reeling from a gunman killing five people at the Capital Gazette in Maryland. Trump’s continuing to call the press the “enemy” could incite more violence against journalists.

The president’s rhetoric also increases the danger to journalists, and journalism, worldwide. Dictators are emboldened by our president’s talk about the press being the enemy of the people.

President Trump’s anti-press statements are “close” to inciting violence against journalists, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights said Monday.

“We began to see a campaign against the media … that could have potentially, and still can, set in motion a chain of events which could quite easily lead to harm being inflicted on journalists just going about their work and potentially some self-censorship,” Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, a Jordanian prince and diplomat, told The Guardian. “And in that context, it’s getting very close to incitement to violence.”

Our country’s leader shouldn’t be making it easier for dictators to harass and silence journalists in places where freedom of the press remains a dream.

Back at home, the president who two years after beating Hillary Clinton still revels in chants of “Lock her up!” shouldn’t try to make the press another enemy for his crowds.

Trump’s attack on journalism reaches beyond the national press that follows the president. “Fake news” is becoming a term lobbed by people who want to discredit reporting that conflicts with their beliefs or self-interests.

But this country needs good reporting now more than ever.

Concerns about election meddling, racial injustice, the dangers of climate change, the future of health care — those issues won’t go away by the president’s demeaning the journalists who pursue them.

And locally, reporting about school-safety threats, failing infrastructure, sea-level rise and other issues are too important to be dismissed as “fake news.” With elections looming, voters need and deserve more answers about where candidates stand on the issues so they can make informed decisions.

The scrutiny, answers and accountability that can come from good reporting are made possible by the First Amendment to the Constitution, which the president, at his inauguration, swore to defend.

Good journalists can handle the criticisms that come in reaction to good journalism.

Exposing wrongdoing, questioning authority, probing complicated issues — that triggers backlash from those in charge as well as others who blame the messengers for the “bad” news in the world.

The criticisms often come from all sides of an issue, with some complaining that the reporting goes too far and others arguing it doesn’t go far enough. That’s usually when we know our reporting got closest to the truth.

Despite the president’s “fake news” mantra, accuracy remains the primary mission for journalists.

Even in the age of a 24-7 news cycle amplified by social media, getting the story right is more important than getting it first.

When journalists get the story wrong, we say so — running a correction or retraction to set the record straight and working harder to do better the next time. Can this president say the same thing?

The press isn’t America’s enemy, Mr. President; it’s America’s watchdog.