A.G. Sulzberger, the New York Times publisher, sounded the alarm Thursday on the “quiet war” against press freedoms unleashed by authoritarians around the world and said Americans should understand the anti-media “playbook” that Donald Trump might employ in a second term.
In an op-ed published by one of the Times’ main rivals, The Washington Post, Sulzberger warned that Trump and his allies have repeatedly threatened the press and said he wanted the Times “to ensure we are prepared for whatever is to come.”
“My colleagues and I have spent months studying how press freedom has been attacked in Hungary — as well as in other democracies such as India and Brazil,” he wrote.
The techniques include “sowing public distrust in independent journalism and normalizing the harassment” of journalists to create a “climate hospitable to crackdowns on the media;” using government authorities, like taxation, “to punish offending journalists and news organizations” while rewarding “those who demonstrate fealty to their leadership;” and filing meritless lawsuits and exploiting the courts to make it more costly to report the news.
“The effectiveness of this playbook should not be underestimated,” Sulzberger wrote.
The Times publisher said he didn’t wish to wade into politics, but Trump’s anti-press words and actions – declaring media outlets the “enemy of the people” and suggesting the use of government to quash dissent – must be taken seriously.
“I believe the risk is shared by our entire profession, as well as all who depend on it,” he wrote.
In championing the need for trustworthy news and information, Sulzberger called on his peers to bolster protections, which includes teaching staffers how to protect themselves and their sources, preparing for legal fights and harassment, and pushing back against campaigns that seek to unjustly undermine trust in news media.
Sulzberger occasionally writes essays to prompt journalism industry dialogue about key issues. Last year, he wrote for the Columbia Journalism Review about the debate around objectivity in journalism. This year, with Trump’s anti-media rhetoric again front and center, he wanted to write about what an escalating campaign against the American press could look like.
Sulzberger approached it as a summer project of sorts.
“To ensure we are prepared for whatever is to come, my colleagues and I have spent months studying how press freedom has been attacked in Hungary — as well as in other democracies such as India and Brazil,” he wrote in the essay. “The political and media environments in each country are different, and the campaigns have seen varying tactics and levels of success, but the pattern of anti-press action reveals common threads.”
Sulzberger thought extensively about the best way to publish the essay — whether in the pages of The Times or elsewhere. He wound up placing it with the Post, an unorthodox move given the long history of competition between the two publications. The collaboration makes a clear statement about the importance of solidarity in the face of existential threats to press freedom.
“I’m grateful to The Post for running the piece, especially given the length (and the suspect institutional affiliations of its author,” he wrote in an email to associates on Thursday. “They’ve been a great partner on the cause of press freedom over many decades and it’s great to see that tradition continue.”
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