Hours after more than 300 U.S. news outlets published scathing editorials defending the freedom of the press and condemning U.S. President Donald Trumpâs attacks against the profession, the president doubled down , in all caps, that âTHE FAKE NEWS MEDIA IS THE OPPOSITION PARTY.â
Trump went on to say that the âfake newsâ is âvery bad for our Great Country⌠BUT WE ARE WINNING!â
Last week, The Boston Globe put out a call to action inviting newspapers across the country to join them in publishing editorials to defend journalists against the presidentâs âdirty war.â
Throughout his campaign and after he was elected, Trump has regularly derided the media, labelling them as âfake newsâ and calling them the âenemy of the people.â
On Aug. 5, for instance, : âThe Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only because they know itâs TRUE. I am providing a great service by explaining this to the American People. They purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!â
In fact, Trump has used the term âfake newsâ in 292 tweets since December 2016, .
In response to The Boston Globeâs request, more than 300 news outlets across the U.S., along with a few international publications, printed editorials promoting the free press with many using the hashtag #EnemyofNone.
What have the newspapers said?
The Boston Globe: The newspaper that initiated the campaign titled âJournalists are not the enemy.â In the piece, the editorial board wrote that the liberty of the press has been a foundational American principle for more than two centuries. They also wrote that it is âun-Americanâ and âdangerousâ to label the media the enemy of the people.
The New York Times: â the national paper echoed The Boston Globeâs sentiment that itâs dangerous to call the media âfake newsâ and asked people to subscribe to their local papers and praise them when theyâve done good work and criticize them when they havenât. They also published excerpts from the editorials of smaller publications.
The Philadelphia Inquirer: that Trumpâs war on the press is a war on democracy and cited Philadelphiaâs history as the âbirthplace of democracyâ and also one of the âbirthplaces of a free pressâ and that it intends to continue that legacy.
Chicago Sun-Times: they were confident Americans know that Trump is wrong in calling journalists the âenemy of the people.â Rather, the paper claims its staff are pretty fond of âthe peopleâ and are instead enemies of âunchecked authority,â âundeserved privilege,â and âself-entitlementâ to name a few.
The Baltimore Sun: Employing a measured tone, they had âmixed emotionsâ about The Boston Globeâs call. The paper wrote that while they agree labelling journalists as the âenemy of the peopleâ is damaging to democracy, they were concerned about joining a âcoordinatedâ response from the âmainstreamâ media because it âfeeds a narrative that weâre somehow aligned against this Republican president.â
Ultimately, however, the newspaper said they were compelled to point out the value of a free press regardless of how it looks.
The Orlando Sentinel: In its editorial titled âPresident Trump, the press isnât the âenemyâ â itâs Americaâs watchdog,â that the president is putting journalists in danger and references the shooting of five people at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Maryland in June. The paper also quoted the United Nations high commissioner for human rights who said on Monday that Trumpâs anti-press statements are âcloseâ to inciting violence against journalists.
The Wall Street Journal: from participating because it said it goes against the independence that editorial boards seek. The paper also said that Trump has the right to criticize the press under the First Amendment. âMr. Trump enjoys free speech just as his media adversaries do,â the column said.