Information is critical to keep a free society free

Many of us in the media found it amusing when then-candidate Donald Trump started taking verbal swings at us on the campaign trail.

Sure, liberal-leaning outlets took shots at him as a candidate and as a person in their commentary. MSNBC and others on the left end of the spectrum hit Trump hard, while Fox News and the right side of the spectrum hit Hilary even harder.

We laughed when he questioned the reporting of The New York Times, since we in the industry hold in high esteem their standards and integrity.

He trashed more moderate TV outlets for having the audacity to accurately report on dirt in his past, even though he knew that his base wouldn’t be swayed by the negative press. He even famously said, “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters,” when talking about how the negative stories won’t hurt his campaign.

Journalists everywhere still took that as bombastic nonsense and chuckled a bit.

When he started to turn his masses of followers on us, we became concerned for the safety of our colleagues, as Trump rallies started to include supporters turning to boo and jeer the press section at Donald’s direction.

The scary part started when, as President Trump, he began with the “enemy of the people” trope and kept repeating it in various forms.

Sounding eerily like strongarm dictators all over the world, undermining the free press is a distinctly un-American message for someone with such patriotic branding.

The watchdog function of our industry has been critical throughout history. Trump talks about wanting to “drain the swamp,” but fails to realize that many shady politicians have been taken down by dogged reporting by journalists fighting to expose corruption and hold officials accountable.

Now it becomes terrifying to see how Trump tries his best to damage the credibility of any news outlet that questions him or any individual who attempts to push an agenda that counters his own, be they friend or foe.

He seems to be pushing for a world in which his message is the only one broadcast, inching closer and closer to Orwellian nightmares of ‘1984,’ perhaps just a few decades off the mark for Trump’s third term in 2024.

Undermining the free press is a distinctly un American message for someone with such patriotic branding.