In some ‘democracies,’ reporters face danger

On Friday, February 17, President Donald Trump called the media “the enemy of the American people.” Are such words just typical for a frustrated chief executive having a bad week, or do these critiques have consequences?

Defense Secretary James Mattis, the most popular person in the Trump Administration, disagreed with the statement that the press is the enemy of the American people. The former general claimed the media is “a constituency that we deal with … I don’t have any issues with the press myself.”

His fellow veteran, Arizona Sen. John McCain, had this to say about such words: “That’s how dictators get started.” He added, “We need a free press. We must have it. It’s vital.” He even admitted he didn’t always like the press, but understood its necessity in preventing tyranny.

Didn’t President Barack Obama say similar things about the conservative media? Fox News host Chris Wallace recalled: “Barack Obama whined about Fox News all the time, but I gotta say he never said we were the enemy of the people.”

But for Chief of Staff Reince Priebus it was a different story. On the Sunday talk show “Face the Nation” on CBS two days later, “Priebus said reporters should take Trump’s comments about the press ‘seriously,’” according to MSN.com, reposted from Reuters America. “But you don’t get to tell us what to do, Reince,” Fox News host Wallace replied.

I suppose most Americans are familiar with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which enshrines a free press. But here’s something you may not know. According to the international group the Committee to Protect Journalists, more than 800 reporters have been murdered since 1992 (with nearly 1,200 dying overall on the job). Moreover, many of the deaths occur in countries with elections and constitutions with democratic principles that are clearly under siege.

Among the countries with the most fatalities, we can find the Philippines (#2, with 75 deaths), Colombia (#4, with 43 deaths), Brazil (#6, with 37 deaths), Mexico (#8, with 34 deaths), Pakistan (#9, with 33 deaths), India (#10, with 27 deaths), Turkey (#11, with 22 deaths), and Bangladesh (#12, with 19 deaths). Each country saw more journalists die than the Charlie Hebdo terrorists, who killed 12 people at that French newspaper.

You can find the tombstones of these reporters among those ruled by our new “friend” Vladimir Putin (Russia is #7 with 36 deaths) and Iraq, the country whose government we helped build (#1 with 111 deaths).

Almost all countries on this list hold elections, and make all kinds of lofty statements about providing freedom to its people. But many have a lot of government corruption and politically connected individuals too powerful to touch. And some are ruled by populists who use threats to intimidate and even silence the press … permanently.

New Philippines elected President Rodrigo Duterte said, on June 1, 2016: “Just because you’re a journalist, you are not exempted from assassination, if you’re a son of a bitch. Freedom of expression cannot help you if you have done something wrong.” And that “wrong” often means investigation of crime and extrajudicial killings going on in that Pacific nation.

If Duterte’s regime, quickly sliding into authoritarian rule, is any sort of warning, it shows the dangers of electing leaders who seek to undermine a free press. It’s one thing to label the press as wrong, irresponsible, or the opposition party. It’s another thing to call them “the enemy.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2017 at 10:00 AM with the headline "In some ‘democracies,’ reporters face danger."