More than 350 newspapers publish editorials condemning Trump’s ‘dirty war’ on press
More than 350 news outlets in the US have banded together to rebuke US President Donald Trump’s attacks on the free press. The American leader has dubbed the media “fake news,” telling his followers that journalists were “enemies of the people.”
Last week, the Boston Globe called for a nationwide denouncement of Trump’s “dirty war” against the media. It has called a mass response with an editorial on Aug. 16 on the dangers of Trump’s labelling of the media as fake news.
“We propose to publish an editorial on August 16 on the dangers of the administration’s assault on the press and ask others to commit to publishing their own editorials on the same date,” the Boston Globe’s opinion page reads.
Its call was answered by hundreds of local news organisations, which pledged to publish an editorial pushing back against Trump’s attacks on the media on Thursday. The Boston Globe said more than 350 news outlets from around the country have joined its effort to support a free press. It includes the lists of participants and the links to their editorials, which the Globe said it would be updating as needed.
Each of the participating newspaper will write its own separate editorial condemning at the president’s attack at the free press. The Globe said it was expecting different views and political leanings from the news outlets, though all addressing the threat of Trump’s rhetoric.
Trump has regularly attacked the credibility of the press, calling news outlets “fake news.” Many of his tweets call reports that were not favourable to him as fake news, telling his followers that the “fake news media” was not his enemy but the “enemy of the American people.” The outlets that regularly receive the distinction from the president include CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS and the New York Times.
