HIS KINGDOM, OUR POWER

How media companies can stare down bullies

- BY MONIKA BAUERLEIN

“LYING.” “DISGUSTING.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has made clear what he thinks of journalists and what should happen to us: “sue them and win money,” get them investigated for treason and “taken off the air.” Once he reassuringly noted that “I would never kill them, but I do hate them,” but he’s since clarified that he wouldn’t “mind so much” if someone shot the “fake news.”

Ten years ago, some were inclined to shrug this off as hyperbole. Now it is crystal clear that Trump intends to do everything he can to stop journalists from reporting things he doesn’t like, which is most things that are true. The president has banned reporters from press briefings while inviting sycophants and propagandists. He has fantasized about journalists being raped in prison. He has threatened to pull broadcast licenses, killed funding for public radio and television, had news organizations investigated and threatened simply for asking questions. National Public Radio has been hauled in front of a congressional committee and investigated by the Federal Communications Commission. Attorney General Pam Bondi recently revoked rules that kept the Justice Department from spying on journalists.

No wonder the United States is slipping on the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index; this year we sit in 57th place among 180 countries, right behind Sierra Leone.