By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 4-16-20
The Committee to Protect Journalists said President Trump’s attacks on press credibility have been “dangerously effective,” even as the pandemic kills tens of thousands of Americans.
It has issued a report on Trump (penned by former Washington Post executive editor Len Downie) and the media and has written the President asking for a meeting – virtually or when social distancing is relaxed – to talk about its concerns and improving the press environment.
The report said Trump’s attacks, which have been a drumbeat on Twitter and have now also moved to his daily COVID-19 White House briefings, endanger democracy and global press freedom.
The report also asserts that the Administration has “stepped up prosecutions of news sources, interfered in the business of media owners, harassed journalists crossing U.S. borders, and empowered foreign leaders to restrict their own media.”
Downie, who was an editor at the Post during the Watergate stories, said that Trump’s attacks on the press are arguably more damaging and pernicious than Richard Nixon’s. » Read More