• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, April 16, 2025

In the face of existential threats from a tinpot dictator, our national news media must look inside itself and gird for battle.

The industry has a potent weapon at its disposal. It is called the power of journalism.

The professionalism, proficiency, diligence and courage of our leading journalists, and the institutions they work for, are on view for all to see every day -- reporting from war zones, crime scenes, natural disasters, courts and Capitol Hill. 

These stories are necessary items on any daily story list, but the threat to press freedom must be moved up from lower positions on the news lists to the top of the ladder and should remain a top priority indefinitely.

Journalistic institutions now under threat must mobilize their resources, talent and experience to expose a government that is clearly intent on suppressing freedom of the press.

It is a freedom that was deemed so important by the Founding Fathers that they enshrined it in the First Amendment -- not the Third Amendment or the Fifth or the Ninth, but the First.

Presidents and public figures have long complained about the news business and how it swarms around them like gnats they cannot easily swat away. 

That is how it has always been. It is how it should always be -- in conformity with the credo that directs journalists to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

With that in mind, making sure that freedom from the overreach of politicians in defiance of American democratic norms is the duty and responsibility of the Fourth Estate.

It is even more vital when American news institutions themselves are the ones under threat.

CBS News was targeted just this past Sunday night after “60 Minutes” aired two segments that did not meet with the Trump administration’s approval -- an interview with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the other about Trump’s plan for the conquest of Greenland.

As soon as the show ended, Trump was weaponizing the FCC to investigate the stories for biases and imbalances. Using a government agency in this way is the very definition of an abuse of power. 

He then threatened to impose huge fines on CBS and revoke the broadcast licenses of the stations that aired the show (networks are not licensed by the FCC, but their owned stations and affiliates are). 

Last year, he brought a lawsuit against CBS (Paramount) because he did not approve of the way the show edited an interview with Kamala Harris. 

Also last year, he sued ABC for defamation because of the way ABC News characterized the civil lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll accusing Trump of sexually assaulting her.  

ABC used the word “rape” in connection with its reporting on the civil trial’s verdict in Carroll’s favor. The word was wrong to use because the court did not use it in its decision brief.

ABC settled the Trump suit without a trial last December by agreeing to contribute $15 million to the Trump Presidential Library fund. 

To its credit, CBS has not yet settled last fall’s “60 Minutes” suit, although recent reports say Paramount Global and Trump have agreed on a mediator who will help to facilitate a settlement.

Besides the lawsuits to which he appears to be addicted, Trump’s attacks on the media have been ongoing -- most recently, his petulant ban of the Associated Press from White House press ops because of its refusal to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.

He also routinely belittles and insults correspondents from news organizations he doesn’t like such as CNN, whose personnel he berates constantly. 

To journalists worth their salt, being banned from the White House and insulted by the president need not provide a barrier to covering any presidential administration -- not as long as there are phones and well-placed sources eager to talk on them.

In America, the news media should not have to labor under the heel of a jackboot.

It is time for the news media to direct their attention to working even harder to investigate all aspects of how the new Trump administration is crossing the boundaries of decency in almost everything it does.