It's Thursday, August 16th, 2018.

From Slated to the Gist, I'm Mike Pesca.

Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.

So said AJ Liebling.

It's one of those quotes you don't hear so much anymore, mostly because in this age of

social media, it's not true.

Or it is true in so far as the definition of press is that phone in your pocket right

now, that page that's probably opened up on your laptop as we speak.

But it was never really true in the sense that the press would like us to believe.

Press freedom is the unusual kind of freedom in that the press fights for it and often pays

the cost for it, but society reaps the rewards.

That's at least how it's supposed to work.

And even if freedom of the press really was relegated to those who own one, the benefits

of freedom of the press would accrue to us all.

But these days, the press feels under siege.

I don't know if the press is under siege.

I guess I should say R, but I'm going to say is under siege.

But it's certainly, they're certainly being ignorantly criticized by the president of

the United States.

In fact, the recent poll by Ipsos shows that 43% of self identified Republicans said they

believed, quote, the president should have the authority to close news outlets engaged

in bad behavior.

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