New report from Index on Censorship paints a bleak picture for U.S. press freedom

The press freedom situation in the United States is worsening not only because of President Trump’s anti-press rhetoric but because of a constellation of factors including arrests, detainment, lawsuits, physical violence and outright censorship, according to a new report.

The report, released by the London-based Index on Censorship this week, chronicles the recent threats to journalist safety and freedom of expression and takes a holistic view of a worsening press freedom climate.

“Smears about the media made by U.S. President Donald Trump have obscured a wider problem with press freedom in the United States: namely widespread and low-level animosity that feeds into the everyday working lives of the nation’s journalists, bloggers and media professionals,” reads the introduction to the report. “This study examines documented reports from across the country in the six months leading up to the presidential inauguration and the months after. It clearly shows that threats to U.S. press freedom go well beyond the Oval Office.”

Candidate Trump exhibited anti-press behavior on the campaign trail by blacklisting news organizations, denigrating reporters and encouraging his supporters to berate journalists, and his administration has also occasionally muddled reality by presenting what White House aide Kellyanne Conway dubbed “alternative facts,” according to the report.

By branding the press “the enemy of the people,” President Trump modeled an anti-press disposition that his counselors have also adopted, according to the report.

‘Alternative facts,’ or the more frequently used ‘fake news,’ have been the catchphrases of the Trump administration to describe news stories they do not like, or that challenge statements they have made. Trump also uses the phrase generally to discredit news organizations and claim they never report the truth. In one instance, Trump accused CNN on Twitter of cutting off Senator Bernie Sanders (D) because he was exposing the fact they reported fake news. Sanders was in fact doing the opposite, joking about Trump’s tendency to dismiss any negative reports as ‘fake news.’

But there are several factors hurting press freedom that have nothing to do with the campaign or the Trump presidency, according to the report, which researched more than 150 publicly reported incidents involving journalists between June 30 and Feb. 28.