Press fights back on Trump claim of fake news media

The Boston Globe urged publications across the country to run editorials last week to refute President Donald Trump’s unsupported claim that the press is “the enemy of the people.” Over 300 news outlets responded, many of them arguing that the “fake news’ label endangers democracy.  (Courthouse New Service, August 16, 2018, by Britain Eakin) The U.S. Senate chose this time to unanimously passed Senate Resolution 607 that described the history of our founding fathers in making a free press the cornerstone of democracy and the importance in a democracy for the press to serve the people rather than the government. The resolution condemned attacks on the free press and affirmed that the press was not the enemy of the people, instead performing a vital role in checking government. (Constitutional Law Prof Blog, August 16, 2018, by Ruthann Robson) While citing the record of their editorials criticizing Trump for his “efforts to delegitimize, threaten and neuter independent journalism,” the San Francisco Chronicle chose not to join in the editorial blitz so as not to compromise in the eyes of the public the independence of the editorial and new reporting side of their publication. They were also concerned that the Globe campaign would feed Trump’s paranoia that the press was conspiring against him. (San Francisco Chronicle, August 16, 2018, by John Diaz) For other FAC coverage of the issue, click here, here and here