The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday shredded Donald Trump for the “low move” of “using government to intimidate news outlets that publish stories he doesn’t like.”
The Rupert Murdoch-owned paper’s editorial board listed several recent examples of the Trump administration not being content to just complain about coverage, but threaten—and in some cases follow through with—legal action.
Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan, for instance, said they’re looking into prosecuting CNN simply for reporting on an app in which users can note locations of ICE agents, apparently under the false impression that reporting equates to an endorsement. (CNN said as much in a statement responding to the right-wing outrage.)
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The Journal also quoted Trump saying CNN “may be prosecuted” for reporting on a preliminary Defense Intelligence Agency analysis showing that damage by the U.S. to Iranian nuclear sites wasn’t as severe as Trump had said. That story had Trump fuming that one reporter be fired “like a dog.”
“What’s wrong,” the editorial board wrote, “is thinking this is illegal.”
“Traffic apps such as Waze and Google Maps sometimes warn drivers that other users have flagged police activity or speed traps ahead on public roads,” it explained. “ICEBlock isn’t operated by CNN, which merely ran a story on its existence.”
And after noting that “accurately reporting the contents of government documents isn’t illegal,” the board asked whether Trump was “prepared to start jailing journalists until they reveal confidential sources.”
The paper then described a third instance of Trump trying to bend the fourth estate to his will: Paramount’s $16 million settlement after Trump claimed that CBS deceptively edited a Kamala Harris interview last year.
The suit, the board wrote, was “meritless,” and the settlement a “sellout.”
“[Trump’s] real leverage is that Paramount requires federal approval for its $8 billion merger with Skydance Media,” the board wrote. “Apparently Paramount executives decided that paying eight figures to Mr. Trump was better than risking the deal.”
Any resulting “partisan trench warfare” over what some Democrats in Congress called a “bribe” is solely Trump’s fault, it added.
Whatever the president gains from his actions toward the press—“another chance...to bluster about ‘fake news’”—harms the country much more, the board went on:
“The price for the country is another worrying precedent, as the political culture spirals further downward into lawfare.”
The Journal’s editorial board has opposed a number of Trump’s policies and stances, including his tariffs, his attacks on Harvard and other universities, and anti-vaccine Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy firing all members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
