Newspapers join together to push back on Trump’s attacks on press as ‘enemy of the people’

Hundreds of news outlets joined a nationwide effort on Thursday to publish editorial pieces calling on President Trump to stop his attacks on the press.

“The greatness of America is dependent on the role of a free press to speak the truth to the powerful,” the Boston Globe wrote in its editorial.

“To label the press ‘the enemy of the people’ is as un-American as it is dangerous to the civic compact we have shared for more than two centuries,” the newspaper added.

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Marjorie Pritchard, the deputy managing editor of the Globe who oversees the paper’s editorial page, first called on newspapers earlier this month to publish editorials pushing back against the president’s rhetoric toward the media.

More than 300 organizations have since pledged to join the effort, The Associated Press reported, including national outlets and local newspapers.

The New York Times wrote in its editorial that while it’s fair to critique the news media for its coverage, attacking reporters is dangerous.

“Insisting that truths you don’t like are ‘fake news’ is dangerous to the lifeblood of democracy. And calling journalists the ‘enemy of the people’ is dangerous, period,” its editorial board wrote.

The Observer in Fayetteville, N.C., meanwhile, called on Trump to stop his attacks, saying they are meant to manipulate reality “to get what he wants.”

The AP reported that some newspapers — including The Wall Street Journal and Baltimore Sun — penned pieces that expressed skepticism about the coordinated effort. The Sun wrote that Trump’s attacks are wrong, but suggested the campaign gives the impression the mainstream media is pitted against the president.

Trump, who has had a testy relationship with the media since declaring his candidacy, often seeks to discredit negative coverage as “fake news.” 

He has suggested pulling credentials from reporters, encouraged rally crowds to jeer media and, recently taken to labeling journalists the “enemy of the people.” Trump has continued to use the latter attack even after a gunman killed five people at a Maryland newspaper office.

Despite all that, the White House has on multiple occasions asserted the administration is committed to a “free press.”