'If You Can Keep It': Donald Trump And The Future Of Press Freedom

1A

NPR

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4.4 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Donald Trump has not been shy about his disdain for the press. In his second term, the president is turning those fiery feelings into action.

Since assuming office, Trump has stepped up his litigious rampage against the media, suing ABC News, The Des Moines Register, CBS News, and pollster J. Ann Selzer.

And at the Federal Communications Commission, Trump-appointed chair Brendan Carr has promised to roll back regulations. In January, the FCC announced it would be investigating NPR and PBS over their underwriting practices.

We discuss what these actions mean for press freedom, you, and the health of U.S. democracy.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for NPR and the following message come from American Jewish World Service, committed to the fight for human rights,
0:07.0	supporting advocates and grassroots organizations worldwide, working towards democracy, equity, and justice at a.jWS.org. Over the weekend, President Trump signed an order to dismantle the federally funded news source, Voice of America.
0:30.0	Trump has repeatedly attacked VOA and other media outlets, especially outlets that share with the president's as unfavorable coverage of him and his administration.
0:39.2	I find the press to be extremely dishonest. I find the political press to be unbelievably dishonest.
0:46.2	And that's why 33% of the people in this country believe the fake news is in fact, and I hate to say this, in fact, the enemy of the people.
0:58.0	You know you're a fake. You know that your whole network, the way you covered, is fake.
1:03.0	I think you've set a new bar today for being contentious with the press corps, kind of calling us losers to our faces and all that.
1:09.0	No, not all of you, just many of you.
1:11.0	All right, fine.
1:11.9	Enough of us.
1:12.9	Is this what...
1:13.7	Not you, David.
1:14.2	Is this what it's going to be like covering you with your president?
1:17.3	Yeah, it is.
1:18.2	And now in his second term, Trump is turning words like that into action and not only against
1:24.8	Voice of America.
1:25.9	In February, White House Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt announced changes to press access.
1:31.0	For decades, a group of D.C.-based journalists, the White House Correspondents Association,
1:36.4	has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the President of the United States
1:41.2	in these most intimate spaces. Not anymore.
1:46.0	I am proud to announce that we are going to give the power back to the people.
1:50.0	Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team.
	...

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