Through lectures, scoldings and outright threats, President Donald Trump and his aides are ratcheting up the pressure on journalists to cover the the way the administration wants.
The Republican president has fumed on social media about stories he doesn’t like and berated a reporter on Air Force One. The government’s top media regulator has warned that broadcasters risk losing their licenses if they don’t stay away from 鈥渇ake news.鈥� Trump and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, have questioned the patriotism of news outlets because of their reporting.
Trump has complained about war coverage in both specific and general ways. In a social media post, he said news reports exaggerated the damage to planes that were attacked by Iran at an airport in Saudi Arabia. He attacked 鈥淐orrupt Media Outlets鈥� for falling for AI-generated false reports created by Iran and said the media 鈥渉ates to report鈥� how well the U.S. military has performed.
All presidential administrations tangle with the press; it’s the natural byproduct of journalists’ watchdog roles in a democratic society. But the incidents of the past few days speak to a hostility toward the very idea of being questioned 鈥� in a way that, some say, scratches up against the First Amendment itself.
A contentious gaggle on Air Force One
Meeting with reporters on Air Force One while returning to the White House from Florida late Sunday, the president objected to a question from ABC 海角社区app’ Mariam Khan about a fundraising message that used a photo taken at last week’s dignified transfer ceremony of the remains of U.S. service members.
Khan was working as the pool reporter on the plane, but when she told Trump she was with ABC, he said: 鈥淚 think it’s maybe the most corrupt news organization on the planet. I think they’re terrible.”
Federal Communications Commission cited Trump’s Truth Social message about the planes struck in Saudi Arabia in warning news outlets to be careful about what they report.
鈥淏roadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions 鈥� also known as fake news 鈥� have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,鈥� Carr wrote on X over the weekend. 鈥淭he law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their license if they do not.鈥�
Decades of court decisions have generally sided with the press over government attempts to regulate the content it produces. But Carr said making changes is in the best interest of legacy media outlets because so many people don’t trust them.
His ability to make changes, however, is limited.
The FCC does not regulate networks like CBS, NBC and ABC 鈥� although it does have the authority to reject the licenses of individual affiliates of those networks when they come up for renewal. Cable news networks CNN, Fox 海角社区app Channel and MS NOW are not under the FCC’s purview. The Trump message that Carr retweeted mentioned only The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal specifically, and the FCC has no authority over newspapers.
Punishing a television affiliate for war coverage that Carr objects to is likely to run afoul of the law, noted First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams in an interview Monday.
鈥淭he broadcast media is always at risk of a sort that newspapers are not. But at its core, they are protected by the First Amendment,鈥� Abrams said, 鈥渁nd these statements by the chairman seem to me are directly threatening First Amendment interests and First Amendment principles.鈥�
Abrams said he’d argue that robust war reporting is just the sort of public interest work that television stations should be doing to justify their licenses.
Intimidation may be Carr’s motive. And that doesn’t have to mean intimidating a news outlet to pull its punches, said Barbara Starr, a former CNN Pentagon correspondent. 鈥淭he risk is the climate they create,鈥� she said. 鈥淎re people going to be afraid to talk to reporters? Some of them will be, and that’s a serious matter.鈥�
What kind of reporting is expected from 鈥榩atriotic鈥� news outlets?
Trump said on social media that he was thrilled to see Carr looking at the licenses of the 鈥渉ighly corrupt and highly unpatriotic 鈥樅＝巧缜鴄pp鈥� organizations.” Their efforts were endorsed Monday by hosts of the influential 鈥淔ox & Friends鈥� morning show on Fox 海角社区app Channel.
鈥淭he president has said enough with this coverage, from other networks that are not telling you the truth, that are so negative about what is going on,鈥� said Fox’s Ainsley Earhardt, without specifying the outlets she was referring to. 鈥淭his is a pro-America fight, and every network needs to get on board with that.鈥�
Hegseth, in his most recent Pentagon war briefing, specifically attacked CNN. Under his administration, most legacy news outlets have been of their regular spaces in the Pentagon press room because they would not agree to his new rules that he said restricted their work. Some reporters from exiled outlets are allowed back for briefings, although Hegseth seldom takes their questions. Without an explanation, have been banned from briefings.
Hegseth said a CNN story about the administration being unprepared for Iranian attacks on the world’s oil supply was ridiculous. He offered his own edits of headlines that a 鈥減atriotic press鈥� should use onscreen.
鈥淭he sooner that David Ellison takes over that network, the better,鈥� Hegseth said, in reference to the Paramount Global chief, whose company is of CNN. The administration is hoping that will result in more Trump-friendly coverage.
Mark Thompson, CNN’s chief executive, said the network stands behind its work. 鈥淧oliticians have an obvious motive for claiming that journalism which raises questions about their decisions is false,” he said. “At CNN, our only interest is telling the truth to our audiences in the U.S. and around the world, and no amount of political insults and threats is going to change that.鈥�
Starr, now retired from Pentagon reporting, said she sees journalists consistently breaking stories despite the limited access and hostility toward their work under the current administration.
鈥淭hat has always been the case,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he level of intimidation has definitely ramped up and, in response to that, the commitment to the First Amendment and quality journalism has ramped up even further.鈥�
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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at and .
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