Trump Pursues Broad Attack on Press Freedom

President Donald Trump has opened his second presidency not only continuing to insult the news media but also successfully reshaping it. Above, Trump after speaking to the press on the South Lawn of the White House on April 25, 2025. Photo: White House/Molly Riley.

WatchDog Opinion: Trump Pursues Broad Attack on Press Freedom

By Joseph A. Davis

Donald Trump isn’t just limiting the press; he’s trying to control it. And with some help from some media, he’s succeeding.

During the first several months of his second presidency, Trump has continued insulting, attacking, suing and threatening the “mainstream media.” But he’s also reshaping much of the mediasphere. Our bad.

It’s important because a robust free press is essential to any democracy, and because Trump and many billionaires are busy trying to turn the United States into an oligarchy.

 

Crashing the ‘pool’ party

Example: Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, the current press secretary, has reshaped the White House briefing room in many small ways that add up.

Recently, she took away the longstanding authority of the White House Correspondents’ Association to pick the rotating members of the White House press pool.

They are a small group of reporters who follow the president everywhere and share factual reports with the larger number unable to be present because of the small spaces. Look for them on Air Force One or at Oval Office sprays.

Eugene Daniels, WHCA president, formally objected.

Journalists should know: It’s about what you write. Trump declared he was renaming the Gulf of Mexico. The Associated Press (whose stylebook some think infallible) continued using the centuries-old name. For this, Trump banished them from the pool. The AP objected, sued and won.

 

Placating the president

But if you don’t play, you don’t win. Some news media have already forfeited the game.

Example: The Washington Post (a free press hero during Watergate). Amazon multibillionaire Jeff Bezos may have saved the bankrupt newspaper by buying it. But he may have destroyed its integrity by trying to placate Trump.

Bezos pulled the editorial board’s endorsement of presidential candidate Kamala Harris (prompting resignations) because Trump could harm his moneymaker shopping site. That’s why billionaires maybe should not monopolize the media.

The same thing happened at the Los Angeles Times. Pharmaceutical billionaire and Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong spiked an already written Harris endorsement — also sparking resignations.

Example: Trump Attorney General Pam Bondi in late April reversed the Biden administration policy protecting reporters from being forced to reveal confidential sources. The media did take note, but did not raise that much of an outcry, although it did get an editorial in the Post.

Meanwhile, the WatchDog has lost count of all the Fox News stars whom Trump has appointed to slots in his second administration. It’s at least 14, but some counts exceed 20. Apparently, few of them think the press should have an adversarial relationship with government.

 

Libel law politicized

Even before his first term, Trump promised to “open up” U.S. libel law. He hasn't changed the law (it’s all case law). But he has gone into the legal arena with libel cases.

The way Trump has made an impact is by getting media companies to settle.

Example: He sued ABC for libel in 2024 over statements by George Stephanopoulos in an interview. The case centered on a fine distinction: whether Trump had raped E. Jean Carroll or only sexually assaulted her. ABC, which is owned by Disney, settled for $15 million.

 

Even though Trump has lost

(or is losing) many other libel suits,

winning is not the point. Aggravation is.

 

That was important even though Trump has lost (or is losing) many other libel suits he has brought. Winning is not the point. Aggravation is.

Example: Trump sued Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer for predicting he would lose the state — and The Des Moines Register and parent company Gannett for publishing her poll. The charge was not libel but fraud, a charge unlikely to stick. The Register is defending itself and the suit is not yet settled.

Example: Trump sued Paramount, parent of CBS, over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Harris. Paramount seems ready to settle, as of this writing (although perhaps not). For Paramount, it’s about the money (see more below).

The most decisive way Trump could use libel law against the media would be to overturn the landmark 1964 Supreme Court decision in Times v. Sullivan. That was the case that required “actual malice” for a libel charge against a journalist or outlet to stick. It is important to press freedom.

There are a few Supreme Court justices who do want to overturn Times vs. Sullivan, but seemingly not a majority. In the last few months, the Court declined to take up a case challenging it.

 

Clipping Big Bird’s wings

Example: PBS has been a conservative bugaboo for decades. Conservatives view public broadcasting as too liberal (many libs think it too conservative). Trump may want to fire Big Bird but he needs Congress to make it happen. Nobody knows whether they can slip a PBS defunding into the big reconciliation bill now stalled in Congress.

But Trump in early May issued an executive order telling the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to stop funding for PBS and NPR, although the courts will probably throw it out.

Example: The Voice of America, run by the U.S. Agency for Global Media, is another arena — one where Trump may be able to have his way. The VOA and sister international media go back to the beginning of the Cold War, when they were seen as a vital antidote to Soviet and other censorship regimes.

At least in theory, it was supposed to be factual and objective, but some saw it as U.S. propaganda. Trump appointed MAGA ally Kari Lake to run USAGM. During its heyday, DOGE fired most of VOA and Radio Free Asia’s journalists. USAGM under Lake let it happen.

A federal district judge then ordered the government to rehire all the fired journalists, but an appeals court overturned that decision. It could go to the Supreme Court.

But the big surprise in the meantime is that Lake has clinched a deal with ultra-MAGA One America News to provide seemingly all the content for the hollowed-out networks.

 

License to control

Possibly the farthest-reaching of Trump’s media moves is the appointment of Republican Brendan Carr to be chair of the Federal Communications Commission. Carr has signaled that he may be ready to carry out Trump’s anti-press agenda.

As mentioned above, CBS News’ “60 Minutes” interviewed Trump rival Harris in October (as it tries to do for all major presidential candidates). Trump complained that their editing of the raw Harris interview was unfair to him and refused to sit for his own scheduled interview. CBS released the raw Harris interview so people could judge for themselves.

Then Trump filed the aforementioned damage suit against CBS for $10 billion — just over the way they edited the Harris interview. Shari Redstone, who owns a majority share of Paramount, which owns CBS, has reportedly urged CBS to settle with Trump and to delay articles that could offend him. Now, “60 Minutes” Executive Producer Bill Owens resigned, saying he had lost his independence. Also resigned: CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon.

Oh, did we mention that Carr’s FCC is looking at the acquisition of Paramount by Skydance — and reportedly setting conditions for the approval that Redstone wants?

 

Trump has found that the

FCC is an ideal instrument

for controlling the press.

 

Trump has found that the FCC, which approves the broadcast licenses the networks own, is an ideal instrument for controlling the press.

CBS is not the only network caught in a crunch with the FCC. In March, Carr threatened to block mergers of any other media that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion. Carr has also targeted ABC, NBC, NPR and PBS.

NPR media reporter David Folkenflik, way back in October, wrote that such incidents “have stoked fears that outlets are preemptively self-censoring coverage that could offend former President Donald Trump.” That’s the point.

Author Timothy Snyder perhaps said it best when he said the first rule of resisting tyranny is, “Do not obey in advance.”

Joseph A. Davis is a freelance writer/editor in Washington, D.C. who has been writing about the environment since 1976. He writes SEJournal Online's TipSheet, Reporter's Toolbox and Issue Backgrounder, and curates SEJ's weekday news headlines service EJToday and @EJTodayNews. Davis also directs SEJ's Freedom of Information Project and writes the WatchDog opinion column.

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* From the weekly news magazine SEJournal Online, Vol. 10, No. 20. Content from each new issue of SEJournal Online is available to the public via the SEJournal Online main page. Subscribe to the e-newsletter here. And see past issues of the SEJournal archived here.