Donald Trump’s second term promises to deliver historic threats to US press freedom – directly from the Oval Office.
The president-elect made it clear during the campaign that he had the press in his sights. He told a rally on the eve of the election that he “wouldn’t mind” if an assassin shot the journalists standing in front of him.
Ahead of the election, he also signalled his desire to jail journalists, hunt down their confidential sources, cancel the broadcast licences of major networks and criminalise work to counter disinformation.
Look for Trump to attack public media and NGO media watchdogs.
They’ve already said that they want to defund NPR / PBS, and Musk is suing Media Matters.
They’re going after anyone that reports on rightwing disinformation, and the small journalists will have the least resources to fight the battle.