Thomas Burr, the National Press Club (NPC) president, doesn’t thinks so. Burr attacked Trump’s recent comments that “the press should be ashamed of themselves” for investigating Trump’s fundraising for veterans. Trump called an ABC News reporter a “sleaze.” “You know my opinion of the media,” Trump said, “it’s very low.”
Donald Trump misunderstands—or, more likely, simply opposes–the role a free press plays in a democratic society. Reporters are supposed to hold public figures accountable. Any American political candidate who attacks the press for doing its job is campaigning in the wrong country. Inthe United States, under our Constitution, a free press is a check on politicians of all parties.
If we are to demand that other countries respect the tradition of a free press we must also practice that here at home.
QUESTION: If the press holds public figures accountable, who holds the press accountable?
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads:
” Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. ”
Trump has previously called for making it easier for public figures to sue news organizations for libel, a change that according to Burr, “would practically suffocate a free press and potentially disable some news companies.” The legal definition of libel is:
” A published false statement that is damaging to a person’s reputation; a written defamation. ”
” A published false statement that is damaging to a person’s reputation; a written defamation. ”
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