CPJ Warns Of Eroding US Press Freedom Under Trump Administration

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has warned that press freedoms in the United States are eroding and called on newsrooms across the country to form a united front against the "rising tide of threats" facing independent, fact-based reporting.

In a report detailing the first 100 days of the US government’s treatment of the media under President Donald Trump, the media watchdog chided the administration for taking a "startling number of actions that, taken together, threaten the availability of independent, fact-based news for vast swaths of America's population."

It also took aim at several high-profile news organizations such as The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times for the "realignment" of opinion pages "in reaction to changing political tides."

"Journalists are always the first to be attacked when democracy declines and the actions of the current US administration should be ringing alarm bells for every single journalist, every single newsroom, and every single person in the United States," CPJ Chief Executive Officer Jodie Ginsberg said in the report.

"This is not a time to be complacent, or to shrug off these behaviors. If we let the abnormal become normal, many more freedoms will be at risk -- no matter what your politics."

The CPJ said in the report that it reached out to the White House with detailed requests for comment but did not receive a response.

The State Department Press Office said in an e-mailed response to a request from RFE/RL for comment on the report that "as a general matter we do not offer public evaluations of reports by outside groups."

Trump took office for his second term on January 20.

In the 100 days since then, the CPJ report outlined moves it said the administration has taken, leaving major news outlets unsure of how to react to "increased pressure from the White House," with owners and journalists alike "facing the choice of whether to placate the president or risk losing access."

The CPJ specifically noted changes in the procedures that govern White House access and the makeup of the press pool, the appearance of the Federal Communications Commission and other regulatory agencies becoming increasingly politicized in their work, and White House calls to deprive public broadcasters NPR and PBS of government funding, among the factors curbing the free press around the country.

In what it called one of the "most glaring examples of this clampdown," the report highlighted the barring of the Associated Press from White House press events after it refused to adopt the administration's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America."

Despite a court ruling affirming the AP's First Amendment rights, the administration continues to limit the agency's access and is "manipulating the press pool seating arrangement to favor partisan or sympathetic outlets."

"From denying access to upending respect for the independence of a free press to vilifying news organizations to threatening reprisals, this administration has begun to exert its power to punish or reward based on coverage," the CPJ said.

The White House has said it is up to its own discretion and not White House correspondents or longstanding tradition to determine who gets to question the president and when.

"The government offers no other plausible explanation for its treatment of the AP," U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden, an appointee of Trump, wrote in his ruling on the case earlier this month.

"The Constitution forbids viewpoint discrimination, even in a nonpublic forum like the Oval Office."

The CPJ also pointed to what it called "politically charged investigations" by the Federal Communications Commission of major networks such as CBS, NBC, ABC, and public broadcasters NPR and PBS. It said the justifications for these inquiries range from "unsubstantiated claims of biased reporting to alleged breaches of licensing agreements."

The Federal Communications Commission was also offered the right of reply by the CPJ, according to the watchdog, but did not comment on the report.

The CPJ said moves inside the United States have also had an effect outside of its borders.

The gutting of the US Agency for International Development and the US Agency for Global Media, for example, have led to the suspension or elimination of thousands of journalist positions in the United States and abroad, and "they have been cheered by the undemocratic governments of China, Russia, Cuba and elsewhere."

Many of the broadcasters affected, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, are fighting the cuts in court, with decisions so far going in their favor for what they call "unlawful" moves to cut funding by the government.