Trump Embarrasses the Us Again in November

Below are the near notable incidents regarding threats to press freedom in the Usa during the calendar week of November 27 – December iii:

Trump'south week of attacking the press on Twitter

This calendar week, President Trump took to Twitter to levy attacks against the integrity of various news outlets, from targeting journalists individually to calling for retribution for what he views every bit "fake news." This week's attacks one time once more made clear the global impact of Trump's tweets against the media when authority figures from both Uk and Libya mimicked his anti-media rhetoric in society to recuse themselves of culpability of wrongdoing.

Following the November 15 release of a CNN report detailing slave auctions conducted in Libya, Libyan authorities cited Trump'due south earlier tweets bashing CNN as evidence of the network'southward alleged bias, proverb "Here the possibility arises that the aqueduct has published the written report of slavery in Great socialist people's libyan arab jamahiriya to secure an as withal subconscious political objective." Trump'due south attacks on media outlets also encouraged extremist groups to threaten journalists on twitter. Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of far-correct British nationalist group U.k. First, replied to Trump'southward tweet and threatened NYT reporters for attempting to question her after the President re-tweeted misleading anti-Muslim videos from Fransen's account.

Post-obit this trend, President Trump one time again attacked CNN afterwards it announced that information technology would boycott the annual White House Christmas party in response to the President's repeated attacks.

On Wednesday, November xxx, President Trump tweeted his disdain for the New York Times post-obit controversy over the Times' editorial board tweeting their criticisms of the President'due south tax programme on the paper's opinion Twitter account.

The Social Media Guidelines the President referenced cautions reporters to "take actress care to avoid expressing partisan opinions or editorializing on issues that The Times is roofing." However, the New York Times argued that those guidelines do not utilise to the NYT'due south Opinion section, which they consider separate from the newsroom.

Over the weekend, President Trump went on Twitter to assail news outlets for "Fake News," following the suspension of ABC News correspondent Brian Ross for an erroneous report.

ABC correspondent Brian Ross reported on Fri, Dec i, that and then-candidate Donald Trump directed Mike Flynn to initiate contact with Russian government officials. Later that day, ABC issued a correction, clarifying that the request was made during the transitional flow, when Trump was President elect, regarding tactics to fight ISIS in Syria. Ross was suspended for iv weeks without pay, and ABC issued an apology for the error.

President Trump addressed news that NBC anchor Matt Lauer was fired over sexual harassment complaints on Tuesday, Nov 29. He so suggested that MSNBC co-host Joe Scarborough was involved in the 2001 death of a female intern, which has already been ruled a natural death.

On Monday, November 27, President Trump suggested that the United states should hand out a "fake news trophy" to the network he perceived to be most dishonest:

By targeting specific news outlets such as CNN and NYT and accusing them of bias, President Trump continues to mistiness the separate betwixt critical news coverage and partisan media.

Pull a fast one on News photojournalists assaulted by Roy Moore staffers

A Play a trick on News camera crew was assaulted by members of Roy Moore'due south campaign staff after they attempted to get a shot of the Senate candidate arriving at a rally in Henagar, Alabama on Monday, November 27. Play a trick on News contributor Jonathan Serrie reported that their crew was told Moore would be entering the rally through the front entrance. When they were informed that Moore was inbound through a side entrance, the photographic camera crew rushed over to record the candidate. Serrie reported that two men, identified as Moore staffers, pushed and shoved two unidentified Pull a fast one on News photojournalists in an altercation caught on photographic camera. The identities of the photojournalists take all the same to be released. Bill Armistead, campaign chairman for Roy Moore, issued a statement condemning the set on, only also accused the media of harassment and "inappropriate behavior." This attack on Play tricks News photojournalists is not new; attacks against members of the media as a result of President Trump'due south inflammatory rhetoric take increased over the past year. Ane such incident occurred in May, a day before Montana's special congressional election, when and so-Republican candidate Greg Gianforte body-slammed Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs for asking a question well-nigh Republican-led health-care reform.

Washington Post exposes undercover performance meant to ignominy the paper

The Washington Post published a story on November 27 detailing an incident in which Project Veritas sent an agent to pose as a victim in efforts to discredit their reports on sexual harassment and assault against Senate candidate Roy Moore. Project Veritas is a tax-exempt charity which oftentimes conducts undercover operations that target mainstream media organizations in social club to expose "media bias." They have previously conducted covert operations attempting to expose the Washington Post'southward bias against Donald Trump and his alleged interest with Russian officials. Jaime Phillips, the undercover agent, told Washington Post reporters that Roy Moore initiated a sexual relationship with her when she was xv, and became combative when confronted nearly inconsistencies in her story. Although Phillips requested her statement be considered off-the-record, Washington Post executive editor Martin Baron said "this so-chosen off-the-record conversation was the essence of a scheme to deceive and embarrass us. The intent by Project Veritas clearly was to publicize the chat if we fell for the trap. Because of our customary journalistic rigor, nosotros weren't fooled, and we can't award an 'off-the-record' understanding that was solicited in maliciously bad faith."

Walmart pulls T-shirt encouraging violence against journalists

On Thursday Nov 30, retailer Walmart decided to pull from its stores a t-shirt design following complaints from the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) that it "openly encourage[due south] violence targeting journalists." The pattern in question was sold by Teespring, a third-party seller, and said "Rope. Tree. Announcer. SOME Assembly REQUIRED." On Friday, December ane, Teespring followed suit and pulled the t-shirt design from their website. The design had previously appeared during the 2016 presidential election, as a clothing particular worn at certain campaign rallies, including President Trump'southward rallies. His campaign events often featured harsh anti-press rhetoric, including referring to the media repeatedly equally "dishonest" and "sleazebags" to proverb "I would never kill them, but I practice hate them. And some of them are such lying, icky people. It's truthful."

The United states ranks 43rd out of 180 countries in RSF's 2017 World Press Freedom Alphabetize after falling two places in the last year.

For the latest updates, follow RSF on twitter @RSF_en

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Source: https://rsf.org/en/news/us-weeklyaddress-november-27-december-3-trump-crusades-against-media-twitter