McCain says free press key to democracy
WASHINGTON: A free and at times adversarial press is essential “if you want to preserve democracy”, Republican Senator John McCain said in response to Donald Trump’s description of the media as the enemy of the US people.
The veteran lawmaker joined German Chancellor Angela Merkel in pushing back against the president’s latest criticism of the mainstream media.
Dictators “get started by suppressing free press”, Sen McCain said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, adding that he wasn’t saying Mr Trump aims to become a dictator.
“I hate the press. I hate you especially,” Mr McCain told NBC journalist Chuck Todd, according to a partial transcript provided by the network of an interview that was due to be broadcast yesterday. “The fact is, we need you.” Without a free media, “I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time,” Mr McCain said.
Mr Trump intensified his regular attacks on the news media in a series of messages on Friday and Saturday to his 25 million Twitter followers.
“The FAKE NEWS media (failing @ nytimes,@NBCNews,@ABC,@CBS,@CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!” Mr Trump said on Friday. He deleted an initial version of the message that concluded, “SICK!”.
Follow-up notes by Mr Trump berated the media for its reporting of his Thursday news conference and advised followers, “Don’t believe the main stream [fake news] media.”
Ms Merkel backed the media at an international security conference in Munich. “I stand by a free and independent press and have great respect for journalists,” the German leader said while US VicePresident Mike Pence sat in the audience. “We’ve always done well in Germany when we mutually respect each other.”
Mr McCain, 80, has clashed with the president since Mr Trump questioned the former prisoner of war’s hero status during the campaign. This week at the Munich conference, Mr McCain, the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told European allies that the new administration was “in disarray”.
Mr McCain said on NBC that “We need a free press. We must have it. It’s vital. If you want to preserve — I’m very serious now — if you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press.