text: About 350 U.S. newspapers published editorials Thursday (Aug. 16) as part of a coordinated effort to defend the freedom of the press and chastise President Donald Trump for constantly bashing news organizations as "enemies of the people." 
   
   The initiative was organized by Boston Globe op-ed page editor Marjorie Pritchard, who called for editorial voices nationwide to unite against the president's rhetoric, which some fear will incite physical violence against reporters and others working at media outlets. 
   
   "Our words will differ," Pritchard said. "But at least we can agree that such attacks are alarming." 
   
   The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only because they know it's TRUE. I am providing a great service by explaining this to the American People. They purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick! -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018 
   
   "We're not the enemy of the people," Pritchard said in an interview this week. "We thought that a coordinated effort across the country would make a powerful statement about the importance of a free press." 
   
   The Globe and The New York Times were the biggest names to join a list that also included the Houston Chronicle, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Miami Herald and the Denver Post. 
   
   The NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune editorial board chose not to participate. We believe a local news organization's voice should be independent. And we believe our work, and the president's attacks on the press, speak for themselves. 
   
   Not everyone in the media agrees with the Globe's strategy. Politico reporter Jack Shafer pointed out that an allegedly independent press all engaged in "groupthink" will only reaffirm the worst opinions that many people already share. 
   
   "Most journalists agree that there's a great need for Trump rebuttals," Shafer writes. "But this Globe-sponsored coordinated editorial response is sure to backfire: It will provide Trump with circumstantial evidence of the existence of a national press cabal that has been convened solely to oppose him." 
   
   Trump's forthcoming speeches almost write themselves, Shafer says: "By colluding against me, the fake media proved once and for all, that they are in cahoots with the Democrats and have declared themselves to be my true political opposition ... " for example. 
   
   The Boston Globe, which was sold to the the Failing New York Times for 1.3 BILLION DOLLARS (plus 800 million dollars in losses & investment), or 2.1 BILLION DOLLARS, was then sold by the Times for 1 DOLLAR. Now the Globe is in COLLUSION with other papers on free press. PROVE IT! -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 16, 2018 
   
   Many of the newspapers are not just singing from the same hymnals but also preaching to the choir. Most, if not all of these newspapers, either endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016 or made a show of their disgust by not endorsing at all. 
   
   This endeavor seems likely to have the same impact. 
   
   The very legitimate defenses of the First Amendment and the importance of a free and independent press are certain to get swallowed up in the partisan divide and the strong feelings of many that Trump never gets a fair shake from the mainstream media. 
   
   There also is the issue of the "Trump bump," the increase in circulation enjoyed by some outlets, most notably The New York Times, for the aggressive news coverage and editorial opposition to the president and his administration. 
   
   So, it wasn't the greatest look that three paragraphs into its online editorial, The Boston Globe included an ad that says: "Our subscribers support a free press. Please join that effort. Subscribe now." 
   
   The Globe editorial, under the headline "Journalists are NOT the enemy," concludes: 
   
   "Lies are antithetical to an informed citizenry, responsible for self-governance. The greatness of America is dependent on the role of a free press to speak the truth to the powerful. To label the press 'the enemy of the people' is as un-American as it is dangerous to the civic compact we have shared for more than two centuries." 
   
   The New York Times editorial, headlined "A Free Press Needs You," begins with a brief history of the beginnings of the idea of a free press, then notes: 
   
   "In 2018, some of the most damaging attacks are coming from government officials. Criticizing the news media -- for underplaying or overplaying stories, for getting something wrong -- is entirely right. News reporters and editors are human, and make mistakes. Correcting them is core to our job. But insisting that truths you don't like are 'fake news' is dangerous to the lifeblood of democracy. And calling journalists the 'enemy of the people' is dangerous, period." 
   
   The editorial concludes: 
   
   "If you haven't already, please subscribe to your local papers. Praise them when you think they've done a good job and criticize them when you think they could do better. We're all in this together." 
   
   Yes, but we all also need to think for ourselves and arrive at our own conclusions. Having 350 editorial voices saying the same thing on the same day just seems to prove Trump's point. 
   
   Tim Morris is an opinions columnist at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. He can be reached at tmorris@nola.com. Follow him on Twitter @tmorris504. ||||| [Read The New York Times editorial here.] 
   
   Speaking to reporters ahead of a cabinet meeting, Mr. Trump briefly alluded to the editorials. 
   
   “If you’d like, you can stay. If you’d like, you can leave,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “Freedom of the press.” 
   
   The Senate on Thursday passed a resolution in support of press freedoms, which included an affirmation “that the press is not the enemy of the people.” 
   
   Mr. Trump took a swipe at The Globe by noting that The New York Times Company had sold the paper at a steep loss, though he incorrectly said that the price had been $1. The Times Company sold The Globe and other properties for $70 million in 2013, after having paid $1.1 billion two decades before. 
   
   The president’s tweets came a day after the White House announced that Mr. Trump had taken the unprecedented step of revoking the security clearance of one of his biggest critics, John O. Brennan, the former director of the C.I.A. Mr. Brennan said the president’s action was an attempt to silence him and a warning to others who speak out against him and his administration’s policies. ||||| News Bias: The Boston Globe had the great idea to get 100 newspapers around the country to publish editorials Thursday to "push back" against President Trump for his critical remarks about the press. In doing so, they've only confirmed that he is dead right. 
   
   X 
   
   The idea is to counterbalance Trump's effective recent jabs at the press for their "fake news" and his clearly inflammatory remark that the news media are the "enemy of the people." 
   
   "We have some big newspapers, but the majority are from smaller markets, all enthusiastic about standing up to Trump's assault on journalism," Marjorie Pritchard, the Globe's deputy editorial page editor, told CNN. 
   
   Though the number of participating newspapers was initially estimated at 100, it now appears it will be about 70. Still, that's a lot. And even the American Society of Newspaper Editors has disgraced itself by supporting it. 
   
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   That so many news outlets could be duped into participating in what is obviously a political stunt is not only disappointing but disturbing. It suggests their real agenda isn't informing people, even in their editorials, but bending the news to suit a leftist political agenda. 
   
   The irony, of course, is that in participating in this Antifa-inspired mob action, the media are proving what Trump says is true. They are biased. 
   
   What's called "fake news" comes in many forms, such as reporting something that isn't true or that lacks proof. 
   
   In recent days, for instance, coverage of Omarosa Manigault-Newman's scathing book on working for Trump, "Unhinged: An Insider Account of the Trump White House," has been all over the media. She claims a tape exists of Trump using an ugly racial epithet on the reality show "The Apprentice." Many media accounts cite it. 
   
   Fair enough. Where is it? Can we hear it or see it? Apparently not. Does it exist? If it does, no one's brought it forward. 
   
   Yet, Newman does have surreptitiously recorded tape of White House aide John Kelly quite justifiably firing her, and another recorded bit of a private conversation she had with a sympathetic President Trump in which he said he was "sad" to see her go. That beast! 
   
   Trump "unhinged?" Fake news. 
   
   Meanwhile, a sinister and frightening extremist Islamist religious movement in New Mexico allegedly instructs children how to engage in mass terrorist shootings, and the national media virtually ignore it. And its leader is the son and namesake of Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, the imam of Brooklyn, N.Y.'s At-Taqwa Mosque, who has extensive ties to the Democratic Party. 
   
   The media's response? Crickets. 
   
   As we noted recently, the bias has even permeated the media's coverage of the economy. The media are seriously misinforming the public about what's happening in the economy — and why. 
   
   "The stronger the economy gets under Trump, the more desperate his critics are to hand credit over to Obama," we wrote last week in an editorial about the media's economic blind spots when it comes to Trumponomics. "A recent New York Times story says it all: 'An economic upturn begun under Obama is now Trump's to tout.' " 
   
   Getting The Economy Wrong, Too 
   
   We can't blame only the Times. Many in the media now ascribe recent major gains in economic activity that are clearly related to Trump policy changes to President Obama. It's as perverse as it is wrong. And it is a matter of statistical fact that Obama, whatever else you think of him, had the worst economic record of any president since the Great Depression. 
   
   He inherited an economy ripe for a major rebound after the financial crisis and instead delivered eight years of mediocre gains. 
   
   These are but two of the recently misreported or underreported stories propagated by the so-called mainstream media. Our major media are in fact filled with left-leaning reporters and editors who refuse to acknowledge their obvious bias — or when they do acknowledge it, deny it has any bearing on their reporting. When challenged, they wrap themselves in the First Amendment and pretend to be martyrs. 
   
   Trump knows this. He's basically trolled the media to get them to explicitly show their anti-Trump bias. It worked like a charm. Kudos to the Boston Globe and the others for falling for it. 
   
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   Want to make more money in the stock market? Start with IBD University. ||||| Nothing flatters an independent journalist less than the sight of him forming a line to drink from the same fountain as his colleagues. Such a spectacle will unfold on Thursday, August 16, as 200 or more editorial pages will heed the call sounded by Boston Globe op-ed page editor Marjorie Pritchard to run editorials opposing President Donald Trump’s unrelieved press-bashing. Participating dailies include the Houston Chronicle, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Miami Herald and the Denver Post, as well as the Globe. Joining the movement are the American Society of News Editors and the New England Newspaper and Press Association. Dan Rather is on board, as is the Radio Television Digital News Association. 
   
   “Our words will differ. But at least we can agree that such attacks are alarming,” Pritchard’s appeal declared. 
   
   Story Continued Below 
   
   It goes without saying that press bashing, Trump-style, is alarming. His critiques rarely point to genuine inaccuracies in the press. Instead, his method is to dismiss any news that impedes his agenda or disparages him as fake and dishonest. With demagogic bluster, he routinely deploys “enemies of the people” rhetoric against journalists, which some say has inspired physical threats against journalists. Early this month, he tweeted that reporters are “dangerous & sick” and accused them of causing war (!) and purposely causing “great division & distrust.” Early in his presidency, Trump said, “I’ve never seen more dishonest media than, frankly, the political media.” 
   
   Most journalists agree that there’s a great need for Trump rebuttals. I’ve written my share. But this Globe-sponsored coordinated editorial response is sure to backfire: It will provide Trump with circumstantial evidence of the existence of a national press cabal that has been convened solely to oppose him. When the editorials roll off the press on Thursday, all singing from the same script, Trump will reap enough fresh material to whale on the media for at least a month. His forthcoming speeches almost write themselves: By colluding against me, the fake media proved once and for all, that they are in cahoots with the Democrats and have declared themselves to be my true political opposition … 
   
   The Globe’s anti-Trump project is also an exercise in redundancy, not to mention self-stroking. Most newspapers have already published a multitude of editorials and columns rebuking the president for his trash-talking of the press. Most major editorial boards opposed Trump’s election, according to this tally by Business Insider. The largest of the 19 newspapers to endorse Trump was the Las Vegas Review-Journal, owned by one of his faithful donors, Sheldon Adelson. More than 240 endorsed Hillary Clinton. Editorial-page sentiment against Trump remains largely unchanged since the election, making the call for a collective reprimand all the more pointless. 
   
   Another problem with a nationally coordinated pro-press catechism is that the audience likely to reap the greatest benefit from the haranguing—Trump and many in his base—tends not to read newspapers in the first place. While there’s always value in preaching to the choir—that’s why churches hold services every Sunday—the combined weight of 200 pro-press editorials is not likely to move the opinion needle or deter Trump from defaming and threatening reporters. 
   
   Most newspaper editorials are already a watered-down product of groupthink. It’s unlikely that expanding the size of the group and encouraging everybody to bake and serve a tuna-fish casserole on the same day will produce editorials that are more interesting and persuasive than the normal fare. 
   
   But maybe I’m wrong. If a single day of pro-press editorials is a good idea for a collective assignment, then maybe newspapers should set aside next Saturday for 200 editorials on tariffs and next Sunday for 200 editorials on global warming and next Monday for 200 editorials on Afghanistan. Surely these issues are as compelling and urgent as press freedom. 
   
   For all its faults, the American press refuses the commands from critics who would have it operate like some monolithic entity. Almost daily, our best newspapers express their independence by rejecting the marching orders issued by corporations, politicians and governments. Editorial pages of America, don’t unite! Think for yourselves! Reject this stupid pro-press assignment! 
   
   ****** 
   
   Send collective assignments to Shafer.Politico@gmail.com. I will ignore them. My email alerts endorsed George Papoon for president in 2016. My Twitter feed wrote in Alfred E. Neuman. My RSS feed voted for whatever knucklehead the Libertarian Party put up. 
   
   Jack Shafer is Politico’s senior media writer. 
   
   This article tagged under: Media 
   
   Newspapers 
   
   Donald Trump ||||| (CNN) About 350 newspapers in the United States had editorials Thursday decrying President Donald Trump's description of the media as the "enemy of the people."
target: – More than 340 newspapers published editorials Thursday decrying President Trump's repeated attacks on the media, and now Trump has responded. "The Boston Globe, which was sold to the the Failing New York Times for 1.3 BILLION DOLLARS (plus 800 million dollars in losses & investment), or 2.1 BILLION DOLLARS, was then sold by the Times for 1 DOLLAR. Now the Globe is in COLLUSION with other papers on free press. PROVE IT!" Trump tweeted Thursday, adding, "There is nothing that I would want more for our Country than true FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. The fact is that the Press is FREE to write and say anything it wants, but much of what it says is FAKE NEWS, pushing a political agenda or just plain trying to hurt people. HONESTY WINS!" Earlier Thursday, he had tweeted, "THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA IS THE OPPOSITION PARTY. It is very bad for our Great Country....BUT WE ARE WINNING!" The New York Times notes that Trump's first tweet contained a factual error; the Times Company paid $1.1 billion for the Boston Globe and other properties decades ago, then sold them for $70 million in 2013. But an editorial at Investor's Business Daily Wednesday was on Trump's side, and even used the same charged c-word in its headline: "Editorial Collusion By Dozens Of Newspapers Proves Trump's Point: The Media Are Biased." It calls the move by the newspapers (CNN lists some of those that participated) a "political stunt" that shows the papers are more interested in pushing a left-wing agenda than actually informing the public. And at Politico, Jack Shafer says the plan "played right into Trump's hands" and will surely backfire, despite Trump's attacks on the press being truly "alarming" and deserving of a rebuttal. At NOLA.com Tim Morris echoes that, noting that the Times-Picayune editorial board did not participate because "we believe a local news organization's voice should be independent. ... Having 350 editorial voices saying the same thing on the same day just seems to prove Trump's point."