The American Press

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, 1791


"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers." 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

"Well, in England they have a system where you can actually sue if someone says something wrong. Our press is allowed to say whatever they want and get away with it. And I think we should go to a system where if they do something wrong. . . . if they make terrible, terrible mistakes and those mistakes are made on purpose to injure people, . . . I think you should have the ability to sue them." Donald Trump, CBS4, October 23, 2016

If that last quote doesn't scare you, you might want to consider just how much you personally value the freedoms you have as an American.

The Great Pretender and his staff are making concerted efforts to limit, if not do away with, press coverage of the White House and of the president. Trump and press secretary Sean Spicer are working to limit White House access to members of the media who are friendly to the president and his administration.

Spicer is openly hostile to media representatives; Trump has called them "scum." Spicer's obvious lies, misrepresentations, distortions and press bashing have begun to rival those of Joseph Goebbels. I do not say that lightly. Administration behavior toward the media is deeply disturbing.

Trump was wrong when he said the press can "say whatever they want and get away with it." The media is covered by strict libel laws and can be sued, but only if the plaintiff can prove actual malicious intent. As journalists say, "If it's true it's not libel."

Trump has threatened to use litigation as a weapon, intending to flood the courts with frivolous libel suits as a means of blocking media access. My personal belief is that these actions are unconstitutional under the First Amendment, but the Constitution's language forbids only Congress from interfering with the press--apparently it never occurred to the Framers that a president might do so.

If limitation of press freedom doesn't bother you, then keep in mind that the First Amendment is a bundle, protecting not only freedom of the press, but also of religion, speech, assembly and redress of grievances against the government.

Which one will be challenged next?

--Richard Brown