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| Topic | Trump and the NYT have rather different accounts of their meeting |
| Mr_Biscuit 07/29/18 12:05:46 PM #1: | Trump: Had a very good and interesting meeting at the White House with A.G. Sulzberger, Publisher of the New York Times. Spent much time talking about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, Enemy of the People. Sad! New York Times Earlier this month, A.G. received a request from the White House to meet with President Trump. This was not unusual; there has been a long tradition of New York Times publishers holding such meetings with presidents and other public figures who have concerns about coverage. On July 20th, A.G. went to the White House, accompanied by James Bennet, who oversees the editorial page of The Times. Mr. Trumps aides requested that the meeting be off the record, which has also been the practice for such meetings in the past. But with Mr. Trumps tweet this morning, he has put the meeting on the record, so A.G. has decided to respond to the presidents characterization of their conversation, based on detailed notes A.G. and James took. Statement of A.G. Sulzberger, Publisher, The New York Times: My main purpose for accepting the meeting was to raise concerns about the presidents deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric. I told the president directly that I thought that his language was not just divisive but increasingly dangerous. I told him that although the phrase fake news is untrue and harmful, I am far more concerned about his labeling journalists the enemy of the people. I warned that this inflammatory language is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence. I repeatedly stressed that this is particularly true abroad, where the presidents rhetoric is being used by some regimes to justify sweeping crackdowns on journalists. I warned that it was putting lives at risk, that it was undermining the democratic ideals of our nation, and that it was eroding one of our countrys greatest exports: a commitment to free speech and a free press. Throughout the conversation I emphasized that if President Trump, like previous presidents, was upset with coverage of his administration he was of course free to tell the world. I made clear repeatedly that I was not asking for him to soften his attacks on The Times if he felt our coverage was unfair. Instead, I implored him to reconsider his broader attacks on journalism, which I believe are dangerous and harmful to our country. --- ... Copied to Clipboard! |
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