New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger said that he took US President Donald Trump to task for “deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric” that is “not just divisive, but increasingly dangerous” when the two met privately at the White House this month.
Trump on Sunday disclosed the meeting on Twitter, saying that he and Sulzberger “[s]pent much time talking about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, ‘Enemy of the People.’ Sad!”
“Enemy of the People” is the phrase Trump uses to broadly describe most journalists.
The July 20 meeting was “very good and interesting,” he said.
Sulzberger, who succeeded his father in the role on Jan. 1, said that his main purpose for accepting the meeting was to “raise concerns about the president’s deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric.”
He said he told Trump that while the phrase “fake news” is untrue and harmful, “I am far more concerned about his labeling journalists ‘the enemy of the people.’ I warned that this inflammatory language is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence.”
Sulzberger stressed to Trump that leaders of other countries have adopted his rhetoric to justify cracking down on journalists, he said, adding that he was accompanied to the meeting by New York Times Editorial page editor James Bennet.
“I warned that it was putting lives at risk, that it was undermining the democratic ideals of our nation and that it was eroding one of our country’s greatest exports: a commitment to free speech and a free press,” the publisher said.
Sulzberger added that he made clear to Trump that he was not asking him to soften his attacks on the Times if he thinks the newspaper is being unfair.
“Instead, I implored him to reconsider his broader attacks on journalism, which I believe are dangerous and harmful to our country,” he said.
Trump reads the Times and gives interviews to its reporters, but regularly derides the newspaper as the “failing New York Times.”
The Times’ ownership company in May reported a 3.8 percent increase in first-quarter revenue from the same period last year.
Trump, who lashes out about media coverage that he believes to be unfair, has broadly labeled the news media the “enemy of the people” and regularly accuses reporters of spreading “fake news.”
Hours after the tweet about the meeting, Trump lobbed fresh attacks against the media in a series of posts that included a pledge not to let the country “be sold out by anti-Trump haters in the... dying newspaper industry.”
Trump also said that reporters disclose “internal deliberations of government” that can endanger “the lives of many.”
He cited no examples, but wrote “[v]ery unpatriotic!” and said that freedom of the press “comes with a responsibility to report the news ... accurately.”
Trump also claimed that 90 percent of the coverage of his administration is negative, leading to an “all time low” in public confidence in the media.
He cited the New York Times and the Washington Post, two repeat targets, saying that “[they] will never change.”
Last week, Trump told hundreds of people attending the annual Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Kansas City, Missouri: “Don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news,” as he gestured toward journalists at the back of the room.
He also told them to remember “what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”
Sulzberger said he accepted the invitation to meet Trump because Times publishers have a history of meeting with presidential administrations and other public figures who have concerns with the publication’s coverage of them.
He said he decided to comment after Trump revealed that they had met.
The White House had asked for the meeting to be kept off the record.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
RSS