https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/23/business/media/trump-rally-media-attack.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-3&action=click&contentCollection=Media®ion=Footer&module=MoreInSection&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&pgtype=article
Trump, Calling Journalists ‘Sick People,’ Puts Media on Edge
Daniel Victor
5-7 minutes
President Trump, at a rally in Phoenix on Tuesday, delivered a speech in which he called journalists “sick people.” Tom Brenner/The New York Times
President Trump’s angry condemnation of the news media during a campaign-style rally on Tuesday heightened the fear among journalists that verbal attacks on the profession could lead to physical attacks.
While criticizing media coverage has long been a surefire tactic to rile up crowds, the depth of the president’s most recent jabs took even seasoned journalists by surprise. He called journalists “sick people,” accused the news media of “trying to take away our history and our heritage” and questioned their patriotism.
“I really think they don’t like our country,” he said.
Throughout the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump would frequently turn the attention of rallygoers to the areas containing journalists, who would then be greeted with obscenities and taunts. Journalists are well-accustomed to being disliked at his rallies.
But Tuesday’s remarks struck a tone that alarmed journalists more than usual. Margaret Sullivan, a media columnist for The Washington Post, called it “the most sustained attack any president has ever made on the press.”
“To see this sort of attack coming yet again from the president is deeply disturbing,” said Courtney C. Radsch, the advocacy director for the Committee to Protect Journalists. “It creates an environment in which attacks on the press, both verbal and potentially physical, could become common.”
There has been little doubt that journalists have faced increasing harassment online, leading to widespread self-censorship, Dr. Radsch said. Journalists have been targets of “doxxing,” or publishing sensitive personal information like phone numbers and home addresses of the journalists and their families.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has identified 15 physical attacks on journalists in 2017, the first year the site has documented.......................................
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