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'Potentially Ominous Trend' for Press Freedom as Trump Wages Legal War on News Outlets
"Governments and powerful figures threatening journalists and media outlets with costly legal battles and bankruptcy is a common tactic against press freedom in repressive countries," said one journalist.
Nov 15, 2024
"The press freedom fire is at our door step now," said one Washington Post journalist on Thursday night after news broke that two months before President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office, he has already begun to wage legal warfare against on the news media.
The Columbia Journalism Review (CJR)reported that days before the election, a lawyer for Trump, Edward Andrew Paltzik, sent a letter to The New York Times and Penguin Random House demanding $10 billion in damages for publishing articles and a book that were critical of the president-elect, who was convicted of 34 felony counts earlier this year.
Trump's legal team took issue with a book by Times journalists Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner titled Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success. They also said they were demanding damages over "false and defamatory statements" in the October 20 article "For Trump, a Lifetime of Scandals Heads Toward a Moment of Judgment" by Peter Baker and the October 22 piece "As Election Nears, Kelly Warns Trump Would Rule Like a Dictator" by Michael Schmidt.
The former article covered numerous wrongdoings by the president-elect and accusations against him, pointing out that he "is the only president in American history impeached twice for high crimes and misdemeanors, the only president ever indicted on criminal charges, and the only president to be convicted of a felony (34, in fact)," and that he has also boasted about sexually assaulting women and spearheaded numerous businesses that went bankrupt.
The latter article detailed comments by Trump's former chief of staff, John Kelly, who told the Times that the definition of fascism accurately describes Trump.
The president-elect himself said while campaigning that he planned to govern as a dictator only on "Day One" of his term in office.
"Governments and powerful figures threatening journalists and media outlets with costly legal battles and bankruptcy is a common tactic against press freedom in repressive countries."
Paltzik told the newspaper that the articles demonstrate the Times' "intention of defaming and disparaging the world-renowned Trump brand that consumers have long associated with excellence, luxury, and success in entertainment, hospitality, and real estate, among many other industries, as well as falsely and maliciously defaming and disparaging him as a candidate for the highest office in the United States."
The CJR reported that the Times responded to Paltzik's letter, telling him the newspaper stood by its reporting on Trump.
As Barry Malone, deputy editor-in-chief of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, said on social media on Friday, Trump's legal threats may be designed not to actually win billions of dollars in damages but "to tie the media up with time-consuming and often prohibitively expensive cases."
The Times and Penguin Random House threats were reported two weeks after Trump suedCBS News for another $10 billion, claiming an interview with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost the November 5 election, was unfairly edited to present her in a positive light and qualified as "election interference."
CBS said it would "vigorously defend" its journalistic practices and called the lawsuit "completely without merit"—a similar response to the one by The Washington Post, which was accused by Trump on the same day of making an illegal in-kind donation to Harris.
Anne Champion, an attorney who has represented several journalists and CNN in legal cases initiated by Trump, told the CJR that the legal threats will likely have "a mental chilling effect" on reporters and news outlets in the United States as Trump prepares to take office.
"It is both conscious and unconscious," said Champion. "Journalists at smaller outlets know very well that the costs for their organization to defend themselves could mean bankruptcy. Even journalists at larger outlets don't want to burden themselves or their employees with lawsuits. It puts another layer of influence into the journalistic process."
Trump has a longstanding disdain for the media, saying numerous times during his first term that journalists were the "enemy of the people." During one campaign rally just before the election he said he wouldn't "mind" if reporters at the event were shot, and he called the media the "enemy camp" during his victory speech last week.
During his first term he also threatened to "take a strong look at our country's libel laws"—which are actually controlled by states, not the federal government—and ensure that "when somebody says something that is false and defamatory about someone, that person will have meaningful recourse in our courts."
The American Civil Liberties Union pointed out at the time that the First Amendment and the lack of federal libel laws would stand in Trump's way, but on Thursday Lachlan Cartwright wrote at CJR that "the drumbeat of legal threats signals a potentially ominous trend for journalists during Trump's second term in office."
As Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah noted on the social media platform Bluesky, "governments and powerful figures threatening journalists and media outlets with costly legal battles and bankruptcy is a common tactic against press freedom in repressive countries."
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Only Debate Question on Middle East War 'Encapsulates What Is Wrong With US Media Coverage'
The Council on American–Islamic Relations said the question was "reckless and biased" and "sounded like it could have written by AIPAC, not CBS."
Oct 02, 2024
Foreign policy experts and civil rights groups criticized CBS News' moderators following Monday night's vice presidential debate for asking only one narrowly framed question about conflict in the Middle East.
Co-moderator Margaret Brennan, the network's chief foreign affairs correspondent, opened the debate by stating that Iran could develop a nuclear weapon within a week or two and asking if the two vice presidential candidates would support a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran.
"Wait. What?" Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, a senior adviser for the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a think tank, wrote in response to the question.
Vlahos expressed disbelief that "after nearly 12 months of war in Gaza, more than 40,000 dead—mostly civilians—a spiraling humanitarian crisis, hostages dead or still in captivity, Hezbollah and Hamas leaders assassinated, a new war in Lebanon where 1 million people may be displaced, charges of genocide, and a cease-fire endlessly elusive," this was the question CBS had chosen.
Peter Beinart, an editor at Jewish Currents and professor of journalism at the City University of New York, argued that the question should have focused on how to stop a regional war, writing on social media that CBS's framing "pretty much encapsulates what is wrong with U.S. media coverage of this conflict."
The Council on American–Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group, said the question was "reckless and biased" and "sounded like it could have written by [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee], not CBS."
Tonight's vice president debate opened with a reckless and biased question about bombing Iran that sounded like it could have written by AIPAC, not CBS. Our soldiers and taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be wasted on another futile war in the Middle East that ends with more blood on our… pic.twitter.com/jyOmgsBbm1
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) October 2, 2024
The debate took place on the same day that Iran fired roughly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel. Iran said the strikes were retaliation for recent Israeli assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. The strikes followed Israel's launch of a ground incursion into southern Lebanon. Israeli and U.S. forces intercepted the vast majority of the missiles, which were targeted at military facilities.
Vlahos suggested that focusing on the Iran threat was a way of avoiding larger questions—that Brennan's narrow framing was intentional.
"If the CBS moderators wanted to avoid talking frankly about the aforementioned issues which might mean—here it comes—raising criticism of Israel, this was the way to do it," she wrote. "Make it all about Iran."
Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), the Republican vice presidential candidate, said that he would defer to Israel.
"We should support our allies wherever they are when they're fighting the bad guys," he said.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, didn't directly answer the preemptive strike question but immediately invoked the October 7 massacre of Israelis by Hamas and said Israel had the "absolutely fundamental" right to defend itself.
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Youth Arrested Demanding VP Debate Question on Climate Emergency
The Sunrise Movement wants CBS moderator Norah O'Donnell to ask Republican JD Vance "if his prayers outweigh the millions he takes from Big Oil to deny the climate crisis."
Oct 01, 2024
Just hours away from the U.S. vice presidential debate on Tuesday, six members of the youth-led Sunrise Movement were arrested for blocking the street outside CBS News headquarters in New York City to demand moderator Norah O'Donnell ask both candidates what they would do to take on the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency.
The sit-in and blockade came as the death toll from Hurricane Helene, which left a path of destruction across several southeastern states, hit at least 137. Sunrise has responded to the Category 4 storm with renewed calls to hold fossil fuel giants accountable.
"In North Carolina, I have watched buildings in my hometown be submerged in water, have seen entire towns washed away, trees and power lines covering the streets, people asking for help finding their loved ones, and friends reaching out for aid after losing their homes and livelihoods," Talia Wilson of Asheville said in a Sunrise statement.
"Norah O'Donnell has a huge responsibility to require JD Vance to have a real conversation about the climate crisis on national TV."
Wilson took aim at the Republican ticket of former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), who will face his Democratic counterpart, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, in Tuesday night's debate.
"It couldn't be clearer that we need to act. Big Oil has known for years that its actions would cause disasters like these, but JD Vance and Donald Trump keep promising Big Oil power in exchange for campaign contributions," the 18-year-old campaigner said. "I know my friends and neighbors want to hear from both candidates on how they plan to address the climate crisis and work to prevent even worse disasters from striking our communities in the future."
Sunrise's Jordan Reif said that "my mom sent me pictures from our family in Georgia. Hurricane Helene destroyed roads, yards, and homes. There was damage like we had never seen before."
"The climate crisis is worsening and climate denier politicians like JD Vance are selling out our communities for donations from Big Oil," the 24-year-old added. "CBS News and the media must report Hurricane Helene for what it is—Big Oil's greed destroying our communities."
Sunrise is circulating a petition that notes Big Oil-backed Vance's response to the death and devastation. In a Saturday social media post, the Republican said, "Please say a prayer for everyone affected by the storms."
The petition says, "Sign this letter to demand that CBS News anchor and vice presidential debate moderator Norah O'Donnell add a question to Tuesday's debate asking JD Vance if his prayers outweigh the millions he takes from Big Oil to deny the climate crisis."
The group's letter to O'Donnell highlights Politico's recent reporting that "Vance changed his tune on climate change. Oil cash flowed." As the news outlet detailed:
As recently as 2020, [Vance] spoke at Ohio State University about society's "climate problem" and said using natural gas as a power source "isn't exactly the sort of thing that's gonna take us to a clean energy future."
Vance's climate and energy views took a 180 once he was running for the Senate. The oil and gas industry spent more than $283,000 on Vance's 2022 campaign—more than they gave to all but 18 other members of Congress, according to the campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets.
Trump's selection of Vance as his VP candidate alarmed green groups that are overwhelmingly backing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz, given the Republican ex-president's pledge to roll back Biden-Harris administration climate policies if Big Oil pours just $1 billion into his campaign, and research showing planet-heating pollution would soar if he returned to the White House.
"Donald Trump and JD Vance are responding to the unimaginable devastation of Helene by tweeting prayers and by doubling down on their climate denial. That's wholly unacceptable," said Sunrise communications director Stevie O'Hanlon, whose group is working to mobilize 1.5 million swing state voters in support of Harris.
"Scientists have been extremely clear: Climate change made Helene stronger and more deadly, and if we don't urgently act, storms like this will become the new normal," O'Hanlon added. "Norah O'Donnell has a huge responsibility to require JD Vance to have a real conversation about the climate crisis on national TV."
The 90-minute debate is set to begin at 9:00 pm ET on Tuesday, airing on the CBS broadcast television station and streaming for free on CBSNews.com, the CBS News TV and smartphone applications, Paramount+, and YouTube.
This post has been updated with additional details from the protest shared after the arrests.
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