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New York Times publisher met Trump over 'enemy of the people' attacks Trump blasts back after Times publisher decries 'enemy of the people' attacks
(about 3 hours later)
Donald Trump said on Sunday he had discussed his decision to call the press the “enemy of the people” with AG Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times. Hours after saying he had a “very good meeting” with the publisher of the New York Times about his labelling the press the “enemy of the people”, Donald Trump launched a blistering attack on what he called “anti-Trump haters in the dying newspaper industry”.
The White House confirmed the meeting happened on 20 July. Sulzberger said he had raised “concerns about the president’s deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric” and “implored him to reconsider his broader attacks on journalism, which I believe are dangerous and harmful to our country”. “The failing New York Times and the Amazon Washington Post do nothing but write bad stories even on very positive achievements,” Trump wrote on Sunday afternoon. “And they will never change!”
Sulzberger did not say how the president responded. Earlier, the White House confirmed Trump met the New York Times’ publisher, AG Sulzberger, on 20 July. Sulzberger subsequently issued a statement that opened an exchange with the president over whose activities were more damaging to America.
The exchange came the morning after the Washington Post’s executive editor, Marty Baron, told an audience in Annapolis, Maryland five journalists shot dead at the offices of the Capital Gazette newspaper last month were “friends of the people”. Sulzberger said he had raised “concerns about the president’s deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric” and “implored him to reconsider his broader attacks on journalism, which I believe are dangerous and harmful to our country”.
“Not one of them deserved to be seen as an enemy,” Baron said. Sulzberger did not say how the president responded. Hours later, Trump obliged.
The New York Times’ Washington bureau chief, Elisabeth Bumiller, and Olivier Knox, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, also spoke at a benefit event for the Capital Gazette and emergency services. In a multi-tweet rant, he claimed news reports on “internal deliberations of our government … truly put the lives of many, not just journalists, at risk”. He added: “Freedom of the press also comes with a responsibility to report the news accurately.”
The suspect in the shooting harassed the Maryland newspaper after it reported his behaviour involving a high school acquaintance. A grand jury indicted him on 23 counts, including murder, attempted murder and assault, in the deaths of Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Ann Smith and Wendi Winters. Claiming without offering evidence that “90% of media coverage of my administration is negative”, Trump said he would “not allow our great country to be sold out by anti-Trump haters in the dying newspaper industry”.
Baron did not mention Trump by name. He did name the victims and said, to applause: “Not one of them deserved to be seen as an enemy because of the profession they choose or the place they worked. The president may have been referring to a study released last year by the politically conservative Media Research Center, which said 91% of mainstream press coverage of Trump was negative. In a study of Trump’s first 100 days in office, the Shorenstein Center, at Harvard University, reached a similar conclusion.
“Not one of them deserved to be seen as an enemy by the man who killed them, and not one of them deserved to be called an enemy by anyone else, either. Nor does anyone else in our field deserve to be labeled that way.” Trump and Sulzberger’s remarks came a day after the executive editor of the Washington Post made public remarks that were implicitly critical of Trump.
Baron said: “To demean people like these, to demonise, to dehumanise them, is to debase yourself.” On Saturday night in Annapolis, Maryland, Marty Baron spoke at a benefit event for the families of five people killed last month in a shooting at the offices of the Capital Gazette newspaper. They were “friends of the people”, he said. The event was also addressed by the New York Times’ Washington bureau chief, Elisabeth Bumiller, and Olivier Knox, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association.
The suspect threatened the Capital Gazette after it reported his harassment of a high school acquaintance. A grand jury indicted him on 23 counts in the deaths of Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Ann Smith and Wendi Winters.
Baron did not mention Trump by name. Of the victims, he said: “Not one of them deserved to be seen as an enemy because of the profession they choose or the place they worked.
To demean people like these, to demonise, to dehumanise them, is to debase yourself
“Not one of them deserved to be seen as an enemy by the man who killed them, and not one of them deserved to be called an enemy by anyone else either. Nor does anyone else in our field deserve to be labeled that way.”
Baron added: “To demean people like these, to demonise, to dehumanise them, is to debase yourself.”
The day after the shooting, Trump said journalists should not fear being violently attacked while doing their job. He also said the shooting “shocked the conscience of our nation and filled our hearts with grief”.The day after the shooting, Trump said journalists should not fear being violently attacked while doing their job. He also said the shooting “shocked the conscience of our nation and filled our hearts with grief”.
But he has continued to attack media including the Times and the Post, deriding both for supposed bias and inaccuracy, which he calls “fake news”. But he has continued to attack the media. This week, Trump told veterans in Kansas City they should not “believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news” and added: “Just remember: what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”
This week, Trump told veterans in Kansas City they should not “believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news” and added: “Just remember: what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.” Aides also barred Kaitlin Collins of CNN from an event at the White House, after she shouted questions in the Oval Office. That led to an industry-wide protest that included Fox News, Trump’s preferred network.
His aides also barred Kaitlin Collins of CNN from an event at the White House, after she shouted questions in the Oval Office as part of her job as pool reporter. That led to an industry-wide protest that included Fox News, Trump’s preferred network.
Knox, of Sirius XM, told the audience in Annapolis he divided “threats against journalists into two eras: before 17 February 2017 and after 17 February 2017. That’s because on 17 February 2017, the president of the United States, using his Twitter account, declared us enemies of the American people.”Knox, of Sirius XM, told the audience in Annapolis he divided “threats against journalists into two eras: before 17 February 2017 and after 17 February 2017. That’s because on 17 February 2017, the president of the United States, using his Twitter account, declared us enemies of the American people.”
That tweet named the “failing” New York Times, NBC News, ABC, CBS and CNN. Trump has regularly attacked the Post over its ownership by Jeff Bezos, the Amazon billionaire. That tweet named the “failing” New York Times, NBC News, ABC, CBS and CNN. The president’s use of the phrase has attracted criticism, including from within his own party. As he did on Sunday, Trump has regularly attacked the Post over its ownership by Jeff Bezos, the Amazon billionaire.
The president’s use of the phrase has attracted criticism, including from within his own party, both before and after the Maryland shooting. In his first tweet on the subject on Sunday, Trump wrote that he “had a very good and interesting meeting” with Sulzberger “about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, ‘Enemy of the People’. Sad!”
Trump’s tweet on Sunday read: “Had a very good and interesting meeting at the White House with AG Sulzberger, Publisher of the New York Times. Spent much time talking about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, ‘Enemy of the People’. Sad!” Sulzberger, 37, took over from his father, Arthur Sulzberger Jr, on 1 January. In his statement, he said: “I told the president directly that I thought that his language was not just divisive but increasingly dangerous. I told him that although the phrase ‘fake news’ is untrue and harmful, I am far more concerned about his labelling journalists ‘the enemy of the people’.”
Sulzberger, 37, took over from his father, Arthur Sulzberger Jr, on 1 January. Trump tweeted then that the change gave the Times a “last chance” to fulfill its founder’s vision of impartiality.
In a statement on Sunday, Sulzberger said: “I told the president directly that I thought that his language was not just divisive but increasingly dangerous. I told him that although the phrase ‘fake news’ is untrue and harmful, I am far more concerned about his labelling journalists ‘the enemy of the people’.”
He also “warned that this inflammatory language is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence”, he said, and “repeatedly stressed that this is particularly true abroad, where the president’s rhetoric is being used by some regimes to justify sweeping crackdowns on journalists”.He also “warned that this inflammatory language is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence”, he said, and “repeatedly stressed that this is particularly true abroad, where the president’s rhetoric is being used by some regimes to justify sweeping crackdowns on journalists”.
Sulzberger added: “I made clear repeatedly that I was not asking for him to soften his attacks on the Times if he felt our coverage was unfair.”Sulzberger added: “I made clear repeatedly that I was not asking for him to soften his attacks on the Times if he felt our coverage was unfair.”
The Associated Press contributed to this reportThe Associated Press contributed to this report
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