N.Y. Times Publisher Says He Told Trump That Attacks On Media Could Lead To Violence

11
>>Follow Matzav On Whatsapp!<<

The publisher of the New York Times said Sunday that he recently warned President Donald Trump that his attacks on journalists as the “enemy of the people” are contributing to a rise in threats and could lead to violence.

Trump revealed Sunday that he met at the White House with publisher A.G. Sulzberger and said they discussed “the vast amounts of Fake News.” The president said he explained to Sulzberger why he was increasingly characterizing journalists as the “enemy of the people.”

The president tweeted Sunday from his New Jersey golf estate, “Had a very good and interesting meeting at the White House with A.G. 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!”

The tweet prompted Sulzberger to release details of their July 20 meeting, at which he was accompanied by James Bennet, the Times’s editorial page editor.

A New York Times spokeswoman said that Trump had invited Sulzberger and that White House aides had asked that the meeting remain “off the record,” in keeping with past practice for such meetings, but that the president put it “on the record” with his Sunday tweet.

Sulzberger said in a lengthy statement, based on his and Bennet’s notes, that he agreed to the meeting with Trump “to raise concerns about the president’s deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric.”

“I told the president directly that I thought that his language was not just divisive but increasingly dangerous,” Sulzberger said. “I told him that although the phrase ‘fake news’ is untrue and harmful, I am far more concerned about his labeling journalists ‘the enemy of the people.’ I warned that this inflammatory language is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence.”

He continued, “I 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. I warned that it was putting lives at risk, that it was undermining the democratic ideals of our nation, and that it was eroding one of our country’s greatest exports: a commitment to free speech and a free press.”

The publisher went on to say, “Throughout the conversation I emphasized that if President Trump, like previous presidents, was upset with coverage of his administration he was of course free to tell the world. 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. Instead, I implored him to reconsider his broader attacks on journalism, which I believe are dangerous and harmful to our country.”

The White House has provided no details of Trump and Sulzberger’s conversation, beyond the president’s tweet.

(c) 2018, The Washington Post · Philip Rucker  

{Matzav.com}


11 COMMENTS

  1. Look who is talking. The Times causes violence against Israeli Jews by posting fake news advocating for the Arabs. It would be nice to see Trump supporters protest the anti Semitic Times. They should get a dose of their own medicine.

  2. Violence is not Trump’s fault but the American people who have finally woken up to their nonsense and lies and want these fake news enemies of the people shut down.

  3. let the media clean up thier act, . what about the attacks on the presidenet and hateful articles , one sided sl.ant on ews regardin middle east etc etc…hypocrates
    what about thier frient waters that created attacks republican offices, presidents aids who were attacked? …

  4. So sweet & accomodating, Mr. Sulzberger sounds.
    Where were u in WW2? you’ve been fake news & enemies of accuracy for decades already.

  5. A truce between the perpetrator (The Times) and the victim (President Trump) is very easy to arrange. The Times needs to report the whole truth, and stop making up lies and half-truths for political effect. If the reporters and editors remain too indoctrinated or dumb to deal with truth, better replacements need to be hired.

    • When was the last time any of the commentors here read the NYT to make accusations against it?
      Or are you just parroting the fake fox news?

      • The NY Times is a rag not fit to even use on the bottom of a bird cage. It’s anti Judaism and anti Israel. A jew who reads the times is not a Jew but a traitor to his people. They are a liberal facist paper like Nazi propagandist goebell. They distort news and are responsible for Jews being murdered by Arabs. Many times these liberal media outlets will photograph Arabs throwing rocks at jewish cars. They want action photos and don’t care if Jews get killed.

Leave a Reply to Anonymous Cancel reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here