Today and yesterday, a number of newspapers are putting
forth editorials purporting to defend freedom of the press, using the hashtag
#FreePress. It all seemed to be kicked
off by the Boston
Globe, which made these kinds of statements.
Journalists are not the enemy
August 15, 2018
A central pillar of President Trump’s
politics is a sustained assault on the free press. Journalists are not
classified as fellow Americans, but rather “the enemy of the people.” This
relentless assault on the free press has dangerous consequences. We asked
editorial boards from around the country – liberal and conservative, large and
small – to join us today to address this fundamental threat in their own words.
Let me start with something basic. Of course, I support freedom of the press, as
well as all forms of peaceful expression and not just in words. My readers know that I have literally gone to
jail for this and am fighting in several courts to protect that right, both as
lawyer and citizen. They know I have
defended the right to speak of people who cheered when my freedom of expression
was suppressed. That’s not my problem
with this #FreePress protest. My problem
is the incredible hypocrisy involved and general stupidity about what freedom
of the press and freedom of expression means.
For starters, complaining that Trump is assaulting freedom
of the press is so ignorant it makes my head hurt. Does anyone in the press understand that freedom
of expression includes the right to criticize what others say? In other words, the First Amendment protects
the right of CNN to say X and it also includes the right of someone else to say
“CNN should not have said X.”
