Donald Trump – 45th and 47th U.S. President – Targeting Journalists is a Crime

Gotabaya Rajapaksa – Military Officer and Former President of Sri Lanka

September 7, 2025

Rodrigo Duterte – Mayor of Davao City

September 7, 2025

“It’s so bad they should lose their license, and they should take 60 Minutes off the air.”

Donald Trump threatened in October 2024 to revoke major TV networks’ licenses, targeting outlets like CNN and NBC to punish critical coverage during his presidential campaign.

Donald Trump – 2024

45th and 47th U.S. President

Notable Actions Undermining Press Freedom under Donald Trump

Demonization and Smear Campaigns

From his first term into his second, Trump repeatedly labeled mainstream media as “fake news,” “enemy of the people,” and attacked journalists with slurs such as “corrupt,” “dishonest,” and “human scum.” He directed over 600 tweets at outlets like The New York Times, CNN, NBC, The Washington Post, and MSNBC.

Cutting Public Media Funding

On May 1, 2025, Trump signed Executive Order 14290, directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and related agencies to end federal funding for NPR and PBS. Both organizations filed lawsuits citing First Amendment violations.

Restricting Media Access to the White House

In early 2025, Trump’s White House indefinitely barred Associated Press (AP) journalists from press pool events—including Oval Office appearances—because AP refused to adopt his preferred term, “Gulf of America.” Multiple lawsuits followed, and outlets like Reuters and Bloomberg were forced to share limited press access slots.

Legal Retaliation Against Media Organization

Trump filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal. He also sued ABC for an unfavorable segment and settled with The Des Moines Register over election projection criticisms.

Agency-Level Suppression

FCC Chair Brendan Carr-an-ally launched investigations into perceived bias at CBS, ABC, and NBC (but not Fox News), while also targeting NPR and PBS with regulatory scrutiny.

Undermining U.S. Global Media Outreach

Trump drastically cut funding to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA). This led to mass layoffs, halted broadcasts, and the replacement of news content with music. Citizens from authoritarian countries risked deportation if visa sponsorship ended. Legal action temporarily halted some actions, but VOA was largely shut down.

Alarming Signs of Democratic Erosion

Watchdog groups like CPJ and RSF warned that the first 100 days of Trump’s second term marked a dangerous shift. CPJ described escalating threats as causing “long-lasting damage to press freedom.” RSF declared that “freedom of the press is everyone’s freedom,” highlighting Trump’s aggressive posture. Civicus placed the U.S. on its global civic space watchlist, citing shrinking civic space, media suppression, and attacks on expression under Trump. Vanity Fair described how Trump’s targeting of outlets like The Washington Post and efforts to dismantle agencies such as USAGM signal a worrying step towards authoritarianism.