Going Too Far With the Press

There are reports now that Donald Trump has decided to deny press credentials to the Washington Post in light of how they characterized his comments concerning President Obama’s statements about the tragedy in Orlando. Trump apparently was miffed at their headlines and the nature of their reporting of his remarks about the shooting and his implication that the President’s failed leadership had contributed to preventing such horrors; that Obama was somehow connected to the Orlando shooting.

Given the repeated Trump attacks on the media; his previous barring and revoking of credentials of other media outlets; and his determined effort to control the press; it is time for all the major media outlets to consider discontinuing covering Trump. If some of the leading print and electronic operations step forward and cease their coverage of Trump, his campaign will quickly get the message.

If Trump can decide who can cover him the media can also decide whether to cover him. The very nature of a free press gives the media the right as well to decide what to write, who to cover, what to say, and when to say it. By its very nature a free and open press demands that it has unbridled access; if Trump does not grant it he does not deserve to be covered.

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