Trump will try to destroy press freedom. We won’t let him
The last time Donald Trump won the presidency, we were alarmed by the prospect that he’d file frivolous defamation suits and insult journalists from the White House podium. Those fears almost seem quaint now — the lawsuits and verbal attacks haven’t ended, but there is so much more at stake in Trump’s second term.
Since his first term ended, Trump has repeatedly called for journalists to be imprisoned and raped for not revealing their sources. Just days ago, he publicly fantasized about a mass shooting of journalists at one of his rallies. He wants to sic federal agencies from the Federal Election Commission to the Federal Communications Commission to the Department of Justice on his perceived enemies, including reporters he doesn’t like.
In his second term, Trump will make good on these anti-press threats to try to destroy any news outlet, journalist, or whistleblower who criticizes or opposes him.
Trump will almost certainly repeal protections against federal surveillance of journalists, which were prompted by his spying on them last time around (to be fair, so did his predecessor). He may even take advantage of the opening created by the case he started and the Biden administration finished — the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange — to prosecute journalists directly for publishing classified information.
Republicans are already seeking to abuse anti-terrorism laws against media outlets that criticize Israel; it’s hard to imagine Trump reining them in. He’s certainly not going to lift a finger to protect Palestinian journalists from getting killed while reporting on the war. Who knows how he’ll respond if Russia or other authoritarian regimes he wants to be buddies with imprison more American journalists?
Just like his last term, Trump is likely to try to censor social media outlets and interfere with the editorial discretion of publishers. His campaign against free speech online will be even worse this time around, especially if he gives the world’s biggest free speech hypocrite, Elon Musk, a prominent role in his administration.
At the local level, Trump’s anti-press rhetoric has already emboldened everyone from governors to county-level politicians to retaliate against the media. With their leader back in the White House, Trump wannabes nationwide will feel even more empowered to harass the press — and they’ve spent Trump’s years in exile priming their base to tolerate it.
Suffice it to say, we’ve got some hard work ahead of us at Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF). But we’ve been here before. During the first Trump term, we fought him every step of the way, from launching the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, the first comprehensive database of press freedom violations in the United States, to expanding the availability of SecureDrop to enable whistleblowers to communicate securely with journalists. And we’re now better equipped than ever to hold Trump accountable.
We’ve got an expanded advocacy team to draw the attention of both the public and policymakers to press freedom issues, whether at the local or national level. We operate a coalition that fosters strong partnerships between press rights groups across the political spectrum. Our new Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy furthers our late co-founder’s legacy by leading the fight to fix the country’s overclassification problem — something that Trump, strangely enough, actually has reason to support.
When the law isn’t enough, our digital security team steps in to educate reporters about how they can protect themselves and their sources, and our open source software tools like SecureDrop and Dangerzone help whistleblowers and journalists collaborate, and expose malfeasance, safely and confidentially.
Whatever press freedom violations we can’t prevent, we document. The Tracker is relied on by journalists and rights organizations everywhere to spot concerning trends and measure the state of press freedom in the United States. Just look at its work in 2020, the last year we had a President Trump, documenting hundreds of attacks on press rights during the civil unrest that swept the nation that year.
We’re going to need your help as the demand for our work likely grows, in both foreseeable and unforeseeable ways. If you agree that a strong Fourth Estate is essential to preserve democracy and check abuses of power, from Trump or whoever’s next, please donate today.