Freedom of the Press

We already know who is more likely to support free speech and it's not like there aren't plenty of problems with corporate news. But this is how little Dear Leader understands the constitution.

With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!

He kept it up during the day.

Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!

And Senator Ben Sasse responds:

Are you recanting of the Oath you took on Jan. 20 to preserve, protect, and defend the 1st Amendment?

Update (October 12):  Referring to the NFL situation, Rush Limbaugh is "very uncomfortable with the president of the United States being able to dictate the behavior and power of anybody."

And Sasse has more:

Question for conservatives:
What will you wish you had said now if someday a President Elizabeth Warren talks about censoring Fox News?

Update (October 14):  Chauncey DeVega  sees this latest attack on the press as just one more sign we have a fascist in office.

To suggest that fascism -- a philosophy viewed by many Americans as anathema to the country's history and best vision of itself -- could take root here is something unfathomable. Moreover, if America's leading voices in the news media, Congress and elsewhere were to label [Fuckface von Clownstick] a fascist then other questions would be summoned by implication.

Update (October 18):  A poll by POLITICO/Morning Consult finds that 46 percent of voters thinks the media makes up stories about Dear Leader. But only 28 percent believes the government should have the power to revoke licences for fabrication of the news.

Update (October 19):  Heather Digby Parton reacts to the poll.

[Von Clownstick's] Big Lie is that the news media is telling the Big Lie.

[I]f nearly half the country believes the fake news that the news is fake, and the other half is being gaslit, we have a bigger problem on our hands than [Fuckface von Clownstick]. It means we're losing our grip on reality itself. This has happened before in history and it didn't end well. That's why it's important to keep your eyes focused and your ears open to what is happening even if it makes you feel crazy. You're not.

Update (October 23):  Bob Cesca points out that Americans trust the media more than the president 52 to 37 percent. And it's important to not let the freak show control the narrative.

The discussion can’t always be about the misshapen orange man playing with his poop-sombrero. The news cycle should ultimately be driven by why he’s doing it, coupled with the negative societal and political consequences.

Update (November 10):  The administration is using a proposed merger between AT&T and Time Warner to pressure them to sell Turner Broadcasting which owns CNN.  Heather Digby Parton:

[Von Clownstick] went on the radio last week and complained that he's being prevented from personally "doing what he would love to do" with the Justice Department because he is president. There is nothing he would "love to do" more than destroy CNN and any other media company that tells the truth about him.

Update (January 17, 2018):  CNN reporter Jim Acosta asked Dear Leader some pointed questions and got kicked out of the Oval Office. Later in the Roosevelt Room, the deputy press secretary yelled at Acosta when he again tried to ask questions.

Senator Jeff Flake has condemned the "unrelenting daily assault on the constitutionally-protected free press" and guess what fellow Republicans decided to whine about?

Update (July 25, 2018):  A reporter was punished for asking "inappropriate" questions.

The White House banned CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins from a press event on Wednesday after she did her job and asked [Fuckface von Clownstick] questions about the most pressing topics of the week in the Oval Office.

Even FOX News condemned the action.

We stand in strong solidarity with CNN for the right to full access for our journalists as part of a free and unfettered press.

Update (November 7, 2018):  After another confrontation with Jim Acosta, Dear Leader had Secret Service deny Acosta access to the White House.

Update (November 13, 2018):  CNN filed a lawsuit over the ban of Acosta.

Update (November 14, 2018):  FOX News supports the CNN suit and the viewers aren't happy.

Update (November 16, 2018):  A federal judge ordered the White House to reinstate Acosta's press pass. The judge's ruling was a matter of due process, not free speech.

Update (July 11, 2019):  In an interview with Andrew O'Hehir, Jim Acosta discusses his book.

[W]e did not have Barack Obama on almost a weekly basis referring to the press as the enemy of the people and accusing reporters of treason and calling legitimate stories fake news. There's an Alice in Wonderland, "Through the Looking Glass" quality to the way this president regards facts and truth.

Tom Tomorrow knows Fuckface isn't the only one at war with the truth.

Also, in an interview with Chris Hedges from earlier in the year, Matt Taibbi explains how Jim Acosta uses theatrics (part 2, 23:45) to generate hate-fueled ratings much like FOX News. "It masks a lack of real inquiry."