Downed In the Line of Fire: Journalism as We Know It
Throughout Donald Trump’s term in office, more members of the U.S. media have been injured or killed than during any previous administration.
The subtitle above is a true, verifiable statement that stands regardless of one’s political affiliation.
Words have always been dangerous, now more than ever.
U.S. presidents have frequently battled the media; this in itself is something that has gone on since Washington’s era.
For our present purpose, however, we will explore physical attacks on journalists during the near-four years of Donald Trump’s tenure in office, with a brief background as to the frosty relations between media and politics in general.
Our first U.S. president, George Washington, refused to accept a third term, in 1796 noting the following:
“I am disinclined to be longer buffeted in the public prints by a set of infamous scribblers.”
Lincoln, Jefferson, and nearly every American leader since have had their issues with the free press, though physical attacks were not considered part of that equation.
