MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “For the nation’s journalists, this has been a summer of unease and unrest. On live television, a caller to C-Span threatened ‘to shoot’ a pair of CNN journalists, Don Lemon and Brian Stelter, for their political commentary. In Tampa, Fla., rallygoers hurled vitriol at reporters covering a speech by President Trump, who later tweeted his approval. Mr. Trump added a new adjective to his nickname for the media — ‘the fake, fake, disgusting news’ — and his press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, declined to disavow the phrase ‘enemy of the people.’ All of this came on top of the usual, apolitical afflictions facing news organizations, like Tronc’s move to lay off half the staff of The Daily News, decimating one of New York’s biggest papers. On Thursday [8-16-18], newsrooms responded. In a coordinated effort started by The Boston Globe, more than 300 publications issued editorials reaffirming the purpose and promise of journalism in American society. ‘Journalists Are Not The Enemy,’ declared The Globe. ‘A Free Press Needs You,’ wrote The New York Times. Mixed in with pro-press quotes from founding fathers were reminders of journalists’ role in provinces small and large: tying communities together, keeping citizens informed, holding governments to account.”
–Michael M. Grynbaum, “For News Media, a Day of Solidarity in a Summer of Unease,” The New York Times online, August 16, 2018