Times meeting with Trump produces no end to war with press

New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger met with President Donald Trump and failed to convince Trump to curtail his anti-press rhetoric which Sulzberger said was damaging the public’s commitment to free speech and press. After the meeting Trump resumed his attacks on the New York Times and Washington Post calling them “anti-Trump haters” intent on writing “bad stories even on very positive achievements.” (CNBC, July 30, 2018, by Javier E. David with contributions from The Associated Press)

The editorial board of The Virginia-Pilot, July 31, 2018, wrote that Trump won’t stop attacking the press so long as it pleases his base and builds political support. The meeting came at a time when a vigorous and respected press is needed to fight the administration’s “disdain for openness and transparency” as demonstrated by its suspension last week of the practice of publishing public summaries of Trump’s phone calls with foreign leaders.

Writing in The Hill, July 30, 2018, conservative radio host Buck Sexton has little sympathy for the Times publisher. “The press has fallen victim to a delusion of its own creation. Trump as an authoritarian who crushes free speech is a laughable inversion of reality. A vast majority of America’s political media apparatus isn’t just oppositional to Trump — they have become activists who seek to end his presidency by any means they can.” Sexton continues, “But the legion of aggrieved columnists, reporters, and news anchors are going to have to get used to the fact that the president has free speech too. Gone are the days when a White House reporter or Sunday roundtable host can tweet snark about the commander-in-chief in the morning and expect to be treated like nonpartisan journos in the afternoon. Trump is on to them. Increasingly, so are the American people.”

For previous FAC coverage on the issue, click here, here and here.