From President to King to Dictator, all in one week.

Opinion

Oh, America! The irony is, you no longer know who you are.

    by Alan Simons

America continues to be a quagmire of confusion, of utter senseless undoing, where there is no direction from the top of the heap other than the incessant and vile negativism and threats of legal retaliation and boycotts towards media from an individual who is more fitting to play the role of Ruth in the Pirates of Penzance than lead a proud and great nation.

This morning the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide, who defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal,  stated: “Trump’s attacks on credibility of the press are dangerously effective.”

According to the information in the press release CPJ state: Of the many ways in which the Trump administration has attacked the press, its most effective and dangerous ploy has been to try to destroy the media’s credibility, undermining truth and consensus even as a pandemic threatens to kill tens of thousands of Americans, the Committee to Protect Journalists finds in a report released today.

It shows how the White House’s approach has emboldened authoritarian leaders to silence the press in their own countries.

The report, The Trump Administration and the Media examines stepped-up prosecutions of news sources, interference in the financial independence of some media owners, and the harassment of journalists, particularly at U.S. borders. It shows how the White House’s approach has emboldened authoritarian leaders to silence the press in their own countries.

CPJ’s report finds that the flow of information is chilled by the president’s threats of legal retaliation and boycotts for critical coverage, as well as by the aggressive prosecution of alleged leakers of sensitive information to the media. The administration has indicted eight government employees and contractors for alleged leaks, plus Julian Assange, whose case has alarming ramifications for the news industry.

“Journalists in the U.S. have been largely undeterred by the daily barrage of pressure, insults, and abuse emanating from President Trump,” said Joel Simon, CPJ executive director. “But the president’s attacks on the media have had an impact. They have undermined public trust in journalism as an institution, a dangerous place to find ourselves in the midst of a public health emergency. And they have empowered autocrats around the world who are cracking down on press freedom with unbridled ferocity at a time when truthful information is more than ever a precious commodity.”

The report includes a set of recommendations for the administration, including standing up publicly for press freedom, refraining from actions discrediting the media, improving information accessibility, and ending the practice of bringing espionage charges against those accused of leaking sensitive information to journalists. CPJ today sent a letter to the White House with a copy of the report, recommendations, and a request for a meeting.

Leonard Downie, Jr., the Weil Family Professor of Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and former Washington Post executive editor, authored the report. with research from Stephanie Sugars, a reporter for the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. It includes interviews with over 40 journalists, media law experts, academics, and administration officials. Downie also authored CPJ’s 2013 report on the Obama administration.

Comments:

R.P.

31m ago

Excuse me, it’s a shameful article of misinformation, smears, lies and blood libels! The media and the journalists attacking on a daily basis President Trump. On tv, in their newspapers they call him Nazi, Hitler, wishing death to his wife from Corona on live shows, asking to kidnap his son, give him to pedophiles and then kill him, discuss what’s the better way to assassinate the president, by poison, by shooting, right on live talk shows! Where is that in your article!! Where!!! Where is the information on Hollywood shows killing the President, holding his head with blood! Hanging him on trees, buildings!! Do you think if they would do that to you or your family member you would react better than him? He hears it all, and he is absolutely right to attack them back and I think he is too polite! Your article is an article of hatred only, based on blood libels from dark times in history. Very disappointed of you. Just stay in Canada and try to fix your own broken system. President Trump is the best friend of Israel and the Jews! Jews like you are ungrateful traitors that can bring history repeating on the Jewish world by your irresponsible words, because the world hears you, liberal Jews! You are damage to our nation. I just can’t believe that you are that much blinded by hatred. President Trump is doing fantastic job, a great American patriot. Your information comes from Nazi media! Shame! Shame! Shame!

 

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