High on Donald Trump’s list of “enemies within” are any media outlets that dare to produce content he dislikes. That is the way the minds of would-be dictators work. It is how Putin thinks, or Kim Jung-un or any of the others Trump admires.
You might hope that after almost 250 years of a free press that a large majority of Americans would support this bedrock institution of democracy but they don’t. Public opinion of media is at or near an all-time low, and audiences are abandoning outlets like MSNBC (down 47 percent since the election) and both the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, which lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers over pre-election endorsement controversies.
More and more local publications go out of business every week. The economics of publishing are already fragile, and extremely vulnerable to various forms of pressure from a hostile Trump administration.
To help make this concrete, the kinds of stories will go untold in the future if Trump succeeds are many and varied. Axios co-founder and CEO Jim VandeHei lists a few examples in his excellent piece, “Why Reporting Matters.”
“Too many seem ready to dismiss anything produced by what they call legacy media. We're playing with fire here. Torch all networks, all newspapers, all news sites with trained reporters, and you're left with little to police government, the powerful, the corrupt, or foreign wars. Random tweeters aren't equipped to invest the time, money or meticulous care to reveal:”
What The Boston Globe did with a monumental investigation of sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Church abuse scandal — courageous reporting that led other denominations to root out molestation of kids.
What the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica did with their "Lawless" series, exposing rampant sexual assault in Alaska's rural communities. Many citizens now have police protection and newfound safety.
What Eric Eyre, then of the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette-Mail, did by overcoming well-funded opposition and exposing the superhighway of opioids to depressed towns in coal country. "Follow the pills and you'll find the overdose deaths," his series began.
What The Wall Street Journal did by uncovering failures of the U.S. exit from Afghanistan, documenting volunteers' rescues of stranded civilians, and the Taliban's success in outwitting and outwaiting the world.
And what Mississippi Today did by exposing the state's rampant welfare fraud, provoking criminal charges — and now a furious legal effort by the ex-governor to expose the sources of the nonpartisan, nonprofit newsroom.
This is, of course, merely a tiny sampling of what honest professional journalists bring us every day. Trump has made it clear that he intends to try and snuff out this kind of reporting — which keeps the powerful to account for their actions — if he can.
It will be up to the of us who care to resist him and fight to preserve a strong, free press. The upcoming battle over the First Amendment is really over the soul of America.
(This is one of many pieces I plan to publish on the subject.)
HEADLINES:
Why reporting matters (Axios)
FBI Warns Americans to Start Using Encrypted Messaging Apps — It's all about protecting against China, but there's the added benefit of protecting against Trump. (Gizmodo)
Gunman at large after UnitedHealthcare CEO fatally shot in ‘brazen targeted attack,’ police say (CNN)
France government collapses again after prime minister forced out (USA Today)
South Korean lawmakers submitted a bill to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol after he declared martial law only to reverse the move hours later. We look at what is next, how investors are reacting and the international backlash to Yonn's decision. (Reuters)
South Korea just gave Donald Trump a warning — if his opponents are listening (MSNBC)
Trump and the GOP will have a historically tiny House majority. What that means. (WP)
Supreme Court hears challenge to law banning gender-affirming care for trans kids (NPR)
Australia is banning social media for people under 16. Could this work elsewhere — or even there? (AP)
Montana lawmakers cross the aisle to block a trans bathroom ban in the state capitol (NPR)
How painful will Trump’s tariffs be for American businesses? (Economist)
China’s Trade Reprisals May Extend to Minerals Like Rare Earths (Bloomberg)
America’s Role Reversal: Working-Class Blacks Make Gains While Whites Fall Back (WSJ)
What makes the US truly exceptional (Financial Times)
30,000 Ukrainian Attack Drones To Hammer Russian Strategic Targets (Forbes)
‘With brain preservation, nobody has to die’: meet the neuroscientist who believes life could be eternal (Guardian)
Film Study: How Michigan’s Wink Martindale tricked Ohio State into running the ball (UM)
Berkeley Wants to Create a Cultural District Where Artists Can Afford to Live (KQED)
Missing woman may have fallen into sinkhole while searching for cat (WP)
Google’s new generative AI video model is now available (Verge)
Watch: Tesla Optimus robot catches high-speed tennis balls with new hand upgrade (IE)
The Furious Contest to Unseat Nvidia as King of A.I. Chips (NYT)
Nation’s Mumblers March On Washington Demanding Something Or Other (The Onion)
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