U.S. President Donald J. Trump released a series of anti-media messages within Twitter Sunday, August 5th, accusing the media of promoting false news stories purposely designed to sow division & mistrust; perhaps even igniting war.
Labor Party leader Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) has released a public statement giving his belief that President Trump is weakening an important facet of democracy with the president’s latest ‘Tweet’ attacks upon the media.
CAUSE FOR WAR
Commenting on Facebook, Norway’s Labor leader Støre said: “It’s a dangerous text. He (President Trump) calls the media an enemy of the people.He accuses them of creating division and intentionally creating distrust; and that the press is dangerous enough to potentially cause war.”
American media editors have met with the president and have asked him to tone down his rhetoric; warning that when a president declares that ‘Media = Bad’, both journalists and the general press within less-stable countries become vulnerable to unwarranted criticism; thus weakening their institutions.
FAKE NEWS
Earlier last week, President Trump met privately with New York Times publisher A.G.Sulzberger, calling the meeting “very good and interesting,” a description disputed by Sulzberger. While Pres. Trump didn’t give actual dates of the meeting, he tweeted that they discussed “the vast amounts of fake news, and how that fake news has morphed into the phrase, ‘Enemy of the People.’ ”
Asked of the presidential meeting, Sulzberger said that he expressed his concerns with the president of the president’s “deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric;” and also of his belief that such rhetoric was “eroding” the US commitment to a free press.
© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today
