Newspaper editorials across U.S. rebuke Trump for attacks on media

[webfact]

Newspaper editorials across U.S. rebuke Trump for attacks on media

By Alex Dobuzinskis

 

The Boston Globe's logo is seen on the newspaper's building in Boston, Massachusetts June 15, 2009. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/Files

 

(Reuters) - More than 300 U.S. newspapers have pledged to run editorials on Thursday defending freedom of the press in response to President Donald Trump calling some media organizations enemies of the American people.

 

The Boston Globe organized the editorial push, which was joined by the New York Times and a number of smaller newspapers, including some in states that Trump won during the 2016 presidential election.

 

The Boston Globe editorial board, in a piece posted online on Wednesday, accused Trump of carrying out a "sustained assault on the free press."

 

"The greatness of America is dependent on the role of a free press to speak the truth to the powerful," the Globe piece said. "To label the press 'the enemy of the people' is as un-American as it is dangerous to the civic compact we have shared for more than two centuries."

 

Trump, in treating the media at times like an opposition party, has responded to unflattering reports as "fake news."

 

For instance, in February 2017 the president tweeted that "The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American people!"

 

A representative for the White House could not immediately be reached for comment on the editorials.

 

At conservative website Townhall.com, an opinion piece from Tom Tradup accused newspapers taking part in the editorial push of "collusion."

 

"Unlike the mastodons at The Boston Globe, I would not presume to tell anyone else what to think or what to do," Tradup wrote. "But as for me - and I suspect many others - I won't be putting any coins in any newspaper box August 16th."

 

The publication of the editorials follows similar criticism of Trump by a number of public figures over the issue of press freedom.

 

In January, U.S. Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, said Trump had embraced the despotic language of former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

 

The Kansas City Star, in Missouri which Trump won in the 2016 presidential election, in its editorial also compared Trump's comments on the media to Stalin's silencing of his critics. And it took issue with the term "fake news."

 

"Everywhere in the country, any matter that an official doesn't want to talk about or that a reader doesn't want to hear about is 'fake news' now," the Star said in its editorial, which ran online on Wednesday.

 

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Michael Perry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-08-16

[pegman]

555, corporate media has had it's own agenda forever. Bit of push back and they have a hissy fit. "Independent Press"? Sure don't recall that in leadup to the Iraq War. They were all W. Bush's  WMD  bitches back then. I have no use for Trump but even less for corporate media.

[Becker]

11 minutes ago, pegman said:

555, corporate media has had it's own agenda forever. Bit of push back and they have a hissy fit. "Independent Press"? Sure don't recall that in leadup to the Iraq War. They were all W. Bush's  WMD  bitches back then. I have no use for Trump but even less for corporate media.

So you're an NPR guy then? And if not then what media do you have any use for?

[Esso49]

Just more tripe and social alienation from Putin's puppet.

[DoctorG]

Trump does enough crazy stuff for the media, if they were honest, to have plenty of fun at his expense. They really do not need to cut bits from what he says just to change the meaning. Saw a good vid recently on fact checking the fact checkers. Really interesting to see what is reported (and verified by fact checkers) that proves to be totally false.

Thankfully YouTube has not (as yet) deleted all of the non-Left sites.

[phantomfiddler]

Seems to me it,s the other way round ! No other president in American history has had to deal with the vitriol thrown by the media at an elected leader.

[helpisgood]

 

11 minutes ago, phantomfiddler said:

Seems to me it,s the other way round ! No other president in American history has had to deal with the vitriol thrown by the media at an elected leader.

 

But, has it been deserved?  I cannot imagine any of of the modern presidents daring to do what is shown in the attached photos.  (Sorry, there's a computer mistake on one attachment.)

 

 

[Tug]

Donald needs the distraction things are heating up with his pal Paul and amerosa and what terrifies him is the silent muller lurking approaching ever closer to exposing him for what he is why else would he be screaming and lying all the time?

[joecoolfrog]

You have to question the intellect of anybody who actually believes that all anti Trump reporting is " fake news ".

[tomacht8]

How long does america want to toil with this senile clown?
Out of his mouth come only hate, lies and insults.
It is time that this weak head is to deposed out of office.

[Morch]

5 hours ago, oldrunner said:

Most newspaper editorials are written by College drop-outs who could not get a decent degree. All are ultra liberal socialists

 

Rubbish.

[RocketDog]

1 hour ago, tomacht8 said:

How long does america want to toil with this senile clown?
Out of his mouth come only hate, lies and insults.
It is time that this weak head is to deposed out of office.

All you said is self-evidently true.

As an American I am deeply troubled with the turn my country has taken in the last 20 years. We have lost our way.

 

Trump is not the direct cause of the current miserable  condition my country is in, but he is instead a symptom of the woeful negligence of Americans themselves.

 

Half of the qualified voters here don't perform their due diligence on democracy by voting.

 

The health of democracy depends on intelligent and informed voters. That is where we Americans have failed ourselves, our beloved country, and future generations of Americans.

 

We are paying a heart-wrenching price for our self-centered sloth and self-indulgence.

 

It will not be easy to rid ourselves of this megalomaniacal tyrant, but the destruction of society and government that he promotes can possibly serve as a wakeup call to my fellow citizens.

 

I can only hope so. Without such a Renaissance of thought and purpose I fear that we have set ourselves on a course that is irreversible.

 

I don't recuse myself of obligations to return my society and government to a sane and sustainable course, but I relish the time I spend in Thailand to maintain some semblance of personal hope.

 

For all the America bashers out there, I won't feign insult or denial. The situation is what it is, and that's  a discouraging  mess.

 

I will say though that my country has historically been a beacon of truth and freedom for many decades and it is in the best interest of all the world for us to get our shit together.  We need understanding and support from all the world's people; not for our government, but for our people who must right the sad ship of state.

 

Some version of the pathetic despot we face now could be coming to your country soon, if he/she hasn't already.

 

Constant vigilance is the duty of all freedom loving peoples everywhere.

[Trouble]

Of course they attacked Trump.  That's their job these days.  Doesn't matter if there is good news, they will twist it.  On the day that the remains of the Korean soldiers were returned to Hawaii, Fox News covered it live, CNN and MSNBC gave it scant attention. This was something that should have been positive news and covered with dignity but it was not by the anti-Trump media.  Every time one turns on Rachel Maddow, she's on a diatribe against something Trump has done or said. Watch an hour of CNN and one would think the world is coming to an end because Trump is President.  There is a reason viewership has dropped, people don't need negativity 24 hours a day.  The print news is much the same. I picked up a weekday copy of the Los Angeles Times the other day.  What used to be a decent daily with various sections of news, sports, business, and entertainment, is now like a throw away paper.  Of course the reasons for this are many but the print media is struggling to survive and they have succeeded in loosing half their readership because they are no longer balanced, just as the cable news media.  It is unfortunate because true journalism seems to be dying a painful death.  The sad part is that it would appear most people these days get their news off the internet.  It's impossible to count the number of basically internet news channels that have popped up over the years. One can read snippet after snippet of "news" from sources which have no history of balanced journalism. The snippets are passed on through Facebook and other social media with scant attention as to whether the items are true or not.  Is it any wonder the Russians could just place snippets in Facebook or other blogs and that people might believe what they read?  It's just a sign of the times and people loosing faith in government and news agencies.  The fact that there has to be fact checking services says it all. People can't trust the news outlets as they now have their own agenda.

[pegman]

9 hours ago, Becker said:

So you're an NPR guy then? And if not then what media do you have any use for?

Guardian, Foreign Policy mag before they put the paywall up, ..........that's about it.

[candide]

50 minutes ago, RocketDog said:

All you said is self-evidently true.

As an American I am deeply troubled with the turn my country has taken in the last 20 years. We have lost our way.

 

Trump is not the direct cause of the current miserable  condition my country is in, but he is instead a symptom of the woeful negligence of Americans themselves.

 

Half of the qualified voters here don't perform their due diligence on democracy by voting.

 

The health of democracy depends on intelligent and informed voters. That is where we Americans have failed ourselves, our beloved country, and future generations of Americans.

 

We are paying a heart-wrenching price for our self-centered sloth and self-indulgence.

 

It will not be easy to rid ourselves of this megalomaniacal tyrant, but the destruction of society and government that he promotes can possibly serve as a wakeup call to my fellow citizens.

 

I can only hope so. Without such a Renaissance of thought and purpose I fear that we have set ourselves on a course that is irreversible.

 

I don't recuse myself of obligations to return my society and government to a sane and sustainable course, but I relish the time I spend in Thailand to maintain some semblance of personal hope.

 

For all the America bashers out there, I won't feign insult or denial. The situation is what it is, and that's  a discouraging  mess.

 

I will say though that my country has historically been a beacon of truth and freedom for many decades and it is in the best interest of all the world for us to get our shit together.  We need understanding and support from all the world's people; not for our government, but for our people who must right the sad ship of state.

 

Some version of the pathetic despot we face now could be coming to your country soon, if he/she hasn't already.

 

Constant vigilance is the duty of all freedom loving peoples everywhere.

Having elected an amoral moron surely does not improve the reputation of your country.

 

However, the way your constitution and your institutions provides a rather efficient safeguard deserves respect.

[RocketDog]

7 minutes ago, candide said:

Having elected an amoral moron surely does not improve the reputation of your country.

 

However, the way your constitution and your institutions provides a rather efficient safeguard deserves respect.

Candice, agreed, and thank you for your empathy. Indeed, we do not deserve respect for the grave disservice we have done ourselves and our progeny.

I often hear such wonder expressed by expats in Thailand, and can only respond with shame.

 

The safeguards you reference were well intentioned but are not robust enough to offer any immediate help as long as Republicans control Congress.

 

As it has always been and remains now:

It is the sole responsibility of the people governed to ensure the integrity and righteousness of their government.

We got into this abhorrent situation by ourselves and we have to get out of it ourselves. Regardless of the America-basher's voice, our success or failure holds great consequence for the entire world.

How we got here is not nearly as important as how we overcome our tragic mistake.

 

It is one thing for some banana republic to be represented by a hapless fool but quite another to have a madman running a global powerhouse with a dominant economy and overwhelming military strength.

Like us or not, the world should be praying for us to somehow recover our vigor and honor.

 

 

 

[Scott]

Off-topic posts and replies removed.  

[bendejo]

9 hours ago, helpisgood said:

 

 

But, has it been deserved?  I cannot imagine any of of the modern presidents daring to do what is shown in the attached photos.  (Sorry, there's a computer mistake on one attachment.)

 

 

 

 

 

Note worthy that this photo was taken right before the three of them went into the Oval Office, with only RT reporters, no US or other press.  It was at that little gathering that DT passed on classified info to his Russian pals.

I also recall a nasty exchange between Lavrov (the one on the left) and the US press as the door was closing.

This may be yet another first for the Great Orange One: first US president to pass officially classified information to  a known adversary.  Perhaps he'll one-up that for being the first US president put on trial for treason.

 

 

 

 

 

[Throatwobbler]

10 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

Seems to me it,s the other way round ! No other president in American history has had to deal with the vitriol thrown by the media at an elected leader.

Says a white man who has no memory of what Obama went through.

[observer90210]

As if the media were a bunch of cristaline saints ??!!?

[Thakkar]

10 hours ago, helpisgood said:

 

 

But, has it been deserved?  I cannot imagine any of of the modern presidents daring to do what is shown in the attached photos.  (Sorry, there's a computer mistake on one attachment.)

 

 

 

While Brennen has been cut lose, Lavrov and Kisliyak still have their security clearance.

[The manic]

3 hours ago, RocketDog said:

Candice, agreed, and thank you for your empathy. Indeed, we do not deserve respect for the grave disservice we have done ourselves and our progeny.

I often hear such wonder expressed by expats in Thailand, and can only respond with shame.

 

The safeguards you reference were well intentioned but are not robust enough to offer any immediate help as long as Republicans control Congress.

 

As it has always been and remains now:

It is the sole responsibility of the people governed to ensure the integrity and righteousness of their government.

We got into this abhorrent situation by ourselves and we have to get out of it ourselves. Regardless of the America-basher's voice, our success or failure holds great consequence for the entire world.

How we got here is not nearly as important as how we overcome our tragic mistake.

 

It is one thing for some banana republic to be represented by a hapless fool but quite another to have a madman running a global powerhouse with a dominant economy and overwhelming military strength.

Like us or not, the world should be praying for us to somehow recover our vigor and honor.

 

 

 

Im afraid anti american sentiment predates Trump. For people who are intersted in Sickness at the heart of America might inform themselves by reading, The James Elroy trilogies and quartets, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and the grapes of wrath by Steinbeck.  All american writers who know intimately the true natue of the American Nightmare. But better the yanks police the world than the germans, belgians, russians or africans. I am.pro American but I am aware of the fault lines in American culture.  Trump is no big deal. The Kennedy's were more sinister.Mayor Daly was more corrupt. Trump is in a fact a sign of a healthy democracy at work. 

[Scott]

Please stay on topic, which is not about US foreign policy or other tangents.

 

[Becker]

11 hours ago, pegman said:

Guardian, Foreign Policy mag before they put the paywall up, ..........that's about it.

So only the (UK) Guardian then, which makes you a Guardianista according to Wikipedia (learn something every day). Pretty limited range of material on which to form opinions I would say.

[bendejo]

Of course it's all love-hate.  Without the 24-hour news channels DT would not be able to run the 24-hour reality show he began in June 2015.  Same thing goes for the print and web press.  We are now in the fourth year where news is defined as "did you hear about what he just did?"  I guess you can call it an 'open source' tv series.  He loves it, rolls around in it like a hog in slop, and the press is a pack of trained seals responding in unison to whatever he tosses.  The comedian at the White House press dinner a few months ago summed it up with this: "you guys hate him but you can't stop talking about him, sounds like you're in love with him."  And the media is doing well by it, the NY Times is not failing.  He loves them too, and the stuff he doesn't like he calls fake news, but alas all relationships have their moments.  His WH tantrums are already legendary regarding seeing something on the telly he didn't like.  He says he doesn't watch CNN, but posts on twitter about what he sees on it. He watches ALL OF IT.  I'm impressed Fox was critical of the Helsinki performance, but I would guess there were some good apologists, as always.

 

I think the press should organize another concerted effort, where they all agree to mention President Agent Orange for no more than 5 minutes per day, and that 5 minutes is at 2am NYC time.  This won't work because there is too much $$$ to be made.  But it would sure rattle his cage, and he'd go to further extremes.  (How extreme?  If you want to know tune in next week for....)

 

Oh yeah, then there's that "right vs wrong" stuff.  Well, it would be a shame for morals to get in the way of a successful television series, no?  Hey, we're talking showbiz here....

 

 

[heybruce]

22 hours ago, pegman said:

555, corporate media has had it's own agenda forever. Bit of push back and they have a hissy fit. "Independent Press"? Sure don't recall that in leadup to the Iraq War. They were all W. Bush's  WMD  bitches back then. I have no use for Trump but even less for corporate media.

Cooperate media is in free market competition; some compete to be the best at timely reporting of important information, some compete to present edited facts and biased interpretations to audiences that aren't interested in being informed.  Intelligent people can distinguish between the two.

 

Legitimate media remembers the disaster of the second Iraq war and its failure to accurately fact check claims made by the Bush administration.  It is determined to not repeat the mistake.

20 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

Seems to me it,s the other way round ! No other president in American history has had to deal with the vitriol thrown by the media at an elected leader.

No president in American history has lied as much as Trump.  When Trump defenders claim "all presidents lie" they usually site two lies told by President Clinton over twenty years ago.  Trump beat that number during his first day in office, and has been routinely lying ever since. 

 

Fact checking is not vitriol, it is the job of news organizations.

[pegman]

2 hours ago, Becker said:

So only the (UK) Guardian then, which makes you a Guardianista according to Wikipedia (learn something every day). Pretty limited range of material on which to form opinions I would say.

The question was what media I have any use for and not what media I read or watch. I read and watch everything from Beitbart AND CNBC to MSNBC and MotherJones. Being retired, curious and wanting to being informed of what's happening in the world I spend a lot of time taking in all kinds of media.  My quest always is for no media to form my opinions for me but to come up with my own. My American friends left and right don't really understand  why I would do that

Just to add to my earlier post there are 3 world affairs columnists I usually do agree with and those are  Eric Margolis, Gwynne Dyer and Stephan Walt.

[attrayant]

14 hours ago, Trouble said:

On the day that the remains of the Korean soldiers were returned to Hawaii, Fox News covered it live, CNN and MSNBC gave it scant attention.

 

I don't trust your analysis.  Did you really sit in front of the television switching back and forth between Fox, CNN and NBC with a stop watch?

 

And this is a fairly straightforward news item.  How much airtime needs to be spent to report the repatriated remains of war dead?  Fox news likely gave it so much air time because their only other choice was to report on all the crap that's brewing in the Trump/Russia probe.  Of course they're not going to report on that.

 

 

[joecoolfrog]

2 hours ago, pegman said:

The question was what media I have any use for and not what media I read or watch. I read and watch everything from Beitbart AND CNBC to MSNBC and MotherJones. Being retired, curious and wanting to being informed of what's happening in the world I spend a lot of time taking in all kinds of media.  My quest always is for no media to form my opinions for me but to come up with my own. My American friends left and right don't really understand  why I would do that

Just to add to my earlier post there are 3 world affairs columnists I usually do agree with and those are  Eric Margolis, Gwynne Dyer and Stephan Walt.

Sadly your friends are not interested in becoming informed , they simply seek bias confirmation. Politics both in the UK and especially the USA seems to be getting ever more polarised , ignorant sheep blindly rushing towards disaster !

[RocketDog]

On 8/16/2018 at 2:09 PM, The manic said:

Im afraid anti american sentiment predates Trump. For people who are intersted in Sickness at the heart of America might inform themselves by reading, The James Elroy trilogies and quartets, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and the grapes of wrath by Steinbeck.  All american writers who know intimately the true natue of the American Nightmare. But better the yanks police the world than the germans, belgians, russians or africans. I am.pro American but I am aware of the fault lines in American culture.  Trump is no big deal. The Kennedy's were more sinister.Mayor Daly was more corrupt. Trump is in a fact a sign of a healthy democracy at work. 

Manic, I think we are not so far apart in attitude. Of course my country has many skeletons in the closet. I'm old enough to have lived through several shameful episodes. I was very nearly cannon fodder in Vietnam when they ended college draft deferments. Clearly Bush conned the entire country with the Iraq WMD scam, and countless others incidents.

 

Of course America has multiple reasons for embarrassment and shame in our history. Any large collection of people inevitably choose the wrong path at times. Generally our form of government allows for correction of such mistakes.

Unfortunately in the case of the current president I agree that things will get worse before they get better. My hope is that Americans will soon realize what their sloth and ignorance of their political duty has cost the nation. Perhaps this will lead to reinvigoration of our jaded electorate..... Maybe not, in which case we will continue this decline in statehood until we are indeed a third-rate nation not to be trusted with any position of leadership.

In my opinion too much of the world swallows way too much of the baloney we crank out here from fashion to self- indulgent hero worship, and yes, even to our dismal debt-based economy and economic policy.

 

I traveled frequently to Europe when I was working and naturally was aware that many people despised America while they also envied much of our society and lifestyle. Talk about cognitive dissonance. I also agree that world opinion had turned against the USA more in the last few years. Where we disagree is the actual numbers of such opinions.

 

Despite our best efforts to bully other countries and shame ourselves with school shootings and moronic choices for leadership, billions of people across the globe would abandon their home countries to move to America. Sorry, I have no statistic to back this up, but I suspect there are such sources.

 

Finally, I'm happy to meet another Steinbeck reader. I've read everything I can find that he wrote; some of it more than once. I just finished Cannery Row for the third time. The Grapes of Wrath is also a favorite that bears frequent re-reads. Travels With Charlie probably reveals the most of Steinbeck's fascination with the complexity and duality of our culture. He is hardly a fan boy, but also captures the passion and desire to do the right thing that MOST  Americans exhibit.

 

Upton Sinclair represents the yellow journalism genre that was popular in that time, and still is today. What is this but an attempt by Americans to face and correct what we see is wrong with our society? Trying to be better and failing is better than not trying I think.

 

As my original post should have made clear I am highly critical of the state of my country and society. I speak to my fellow countrymen continually about our problems and urge them to participate in curing them.

 

America is hardly god's gift to humanity, but as you say, hardly the worst player on the world stage as well.

Like it or not America is a major player now and we owe the world the very best we have to give.

 

I will continue to support that effort, to apologize for our transgressions, and to seek perfection of our form of government.

 

I think Churchill once said that democracy is not a good form of government, it's just the best available despite the sickness at our heart. We have lost our way but may yet recover.

I thank you for this dialog since it has helped me to better define my own mixed feelings about being American.