Media Freedom of press at risk, experts warn

Donald Trump could have an easier time limiting press freedom in his second term in the White House, after a campaign marked by virulent rhetoric towards journalists and calls to punish television networks and prosecute journalists and their sources, legal scholars and journalism advocacy groups warn.

- Eric Berger

Aside from worries about Trump's demonisation of the press, inciting violence against journalists, free press advocates appear to be most alarmed by Trump's call for the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to revoke TV networks' broadcast licences and talk of jailing journalists who refuse to reveal anonymous sources.

Still, despite a conservative majority on the supreme court and likely Republican control of the House and Senate, those same people also say that the US's robust free speech protections under the first amendment of the constitution is likely to help protect journalists against the incoming president's attacks.

Trump has long said journalists deliver "fake news" and are the "enemy of the people", but since leaving office in 2021 he has used more violent language. At a 2022 rally in Texas, Trump suggested that the threat of rape in prison could compel a journalist to reveal their sources.

"When this person realises that he is going to be the bride of another prisoner shortly, he will say: 'I'd very much like to tell you exactly who that was,'" Trump said.

At a recent campaign rally, Trump also said that given where the press was located, if someone were to try to assassinate him, the person "would have to shoot through the fake news, and I don't mind that so much".