In arguably the most controversial presidential election our country has seen, there are bound to be vocal opinions in the press about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Both candidates have done plenty to earn the full attention of the public and the media.
But for Republican nominee Donald Trump, the rights of the press mean nothing. Trump, over the course of his presidential campaign, has revoked press credentials and banned reporters from at least seven respectable media outlets from covering any part of his campaign. Among these banned outlets are The Washington Post, The Huffington Post and Politico.
Trump’s campaign has been ripe with controversy from the very beginning, and this “blacklisting” of the media certainly doesn’t help that growing list.
Simply put, Donald Trump is denying the press their basic rights as journalists.
The reasons for these bans are supposedly because of “unfair treatment,” but seeing as most of these banned outlets have been saying negative things about Trump that are based on fact, that’s a tough excuse to swallow.
Bradley Burgess | Argonaut
No matter what, the press is going to have opinions about subjects that are unpopular. And with a candidate like Trump, those issues are doubly so. For him to ban reporters from doing their duties as journalists because of negative reception is closed-minded, knee-jerk bullying.
Someone like Trump, who at this point is well onto the political trail, is part of the world’s spotlight, whether a large portion of the public likes it or not. The journalism community’s duty is to report what he represents, however unpopular or controversial. What would Trump have reporters do, ignore such a high profile presidential candidate and return to the days of government censorship?
The situation worsens when reading up on the banned outlets. The Huffington Post very famously put their initial coverage of Trump under their Entertainment section and soon after Trump’s campaign blacklisted the organization. Further, Trump’s campaign manager allegedly assaulted the Post reporter who covered Trump at the time. She charged him with battery, and what did she get? A complete denial of access to all Trump events.
This is petty, immature and unfair to those who are trying to do their jobs. It smells of childish backlash and revenge against those that Trump deems problematic.
And let’s not forget that Trump has been mistreating journalists long before his campaign. Recently, a writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer revealed that Trump used sexist slurs to describe her back in the 1980s, while also threatening her and her editor over the phone. Of course, Trump’s campaign denied this and accused the reporter of trying to smear Trump and steal his limelight. Essentially, Trump’s policy is to attack reporters and them blame the victims when they come forward.
Imagine if Trump gets elected and this behavior continues. The president of the United States would be banning and silencing the press, an institution meant to inform the best interests of the public. Dictators in North Korea have been doing this for years and now it seems that behavior is extending to America. Trump’s actions are endangering the future and freedoms of the press, and that cannot happen.
Bradley Burgess can be reached at [email protected]