In my new Policy Options magazine piece, I argue that since American news media is now under attack, Canada should fill this vacuum and aspire to be a global leader in journalism.
Read on for an excerpt, and click here for the full article.
By now, the contentious relationship between news media and America’s 45th president is well-established. At his first news conference since November’s election, Donald Trump berated a CNN reporter and unfairly accused the network of airing “fake news.” On his first full day as president, Trump called journalists “among the most dishonest human beings on Earth,” and falsely said they fabricated his feud with CIA officials. White House press secretary Sean Spicer also scolded reporters in the West Wing, echoing Trump’s lie that media outlets downplayed the size of his inauguration crowd.
That’s on top of Trump’s previous attempts to blacklist, sue, insult and blame news organizations for “inciting violence.” Not to mention his peddling of those pesky “alternative facts.”
We’re only weeks into his presidency, and freedom of the press in the United States is already facing an unprecedented threat. Never in modern American history has a president so vigorously attacked First Amendment rights. And never has there been a greater opportunity for Canada to showcase its journalistic gravitas in comparison.
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