I’ve felt like I’m in an out-of-kilter Back to the Future movie this week. Is it the year 2000? That is when Governor Jesse Ventura was blaming many of his political woes on the press—or, as he not so fondly dubbed journalists—“ media jackals.”
The professional wrestler turned actor liked being in the spotlight— as long as it favored him. He was furious when the press asked the cost of a six-day jet ski tour down the Mississippi River. He was angry when the press quoted him saying that organized religion was a “crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers.” And when he announced that he was not going to run for a second term, part of the reason he gave was because the media had “hounded” him.
Fast-forward to February 26, 2016 and a rally for presidential candidate Donald Trump in Fort Worth, Texas. The candidate attacked the press, calling the media “dishonest” and “incompetent” claiming that journalists write “purposely negative and horrible and false articles” about him.
Déjà vu, I thought to myself, it’s Jesse Ventura all over again. The next thing you know, Donald Trump will be calling the press jackals too.
But he didn’t. What he did is actually a little more frightening. He declared that if he were elected he would “open up our libel laws” so when a news organization writes a “hit piece,” they can be sued. After denigrating the New York Times and the Washington Post, he stated that he wanted to change the libel laws so “we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they’re totally protected.”
What Mr. Trump doesn’t realize is that the newspaper industry, while protected by the First Amendment, is also accountable to the American people to not misuse the right to Free Speech. Newspapers do not have complete immunity to knowingly print falsehoods.
However, this matter was settled by the Supreme Court in New York Times vs. Sullivan. In that 1964 case, Montgomery, Alabama police chief L.B. Sullivan took issue with statements in an advertisement in the Times about treatment of civil rights protestors. Sullivan claimed that the ad damaged his reputation and he had been libeled. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously in favor of the Times.
In its decision, the Court said the right to publish the statements was protected under the First Amendment. The Court also said in order to prove libel, a public official must show that what was said against them was made with actual malice – “that is, with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard for the truth.”
So, if Donald Trump wants to go after news organizations that he truly believes are writing “purposely negative and horrible and false articles” about him, those laws are already in place.
But I don’t think Mr. Trump really wants to sue anyone. Like Jesse Ventura, he is just trying to bully news organizations into giving him more favorable coverage.
I don’t think Trump will have much luck intimidating the reporters following him. Newspapers have a long history of bringing truth into the light. From the Teapot Dome oil industry scandal in the 1920s to McCarthyism in the 1950s; from Watergate in the ’70s to the Iran- Contra scandal in the ’80s; from crack smoking Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry in the ’90s to Anthony Weiner in 2011, journalists have not backed down from tough and uncomfortable stories.
If that makes the press jackals, so be it.
The fact is that our society relies upon the newspaper industry to be a consistent, challenging voice to the wealthy and powerful—and newspapers have a long history of carrying out that mandate with care and a deep sense of responsibility.
David Chavern, CEO of the
Newspaper Association of America
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