This past Sunday might have been World Press Freedom day, but that didn’t stop President Trump from making his usual attacks on the media, both on Twitter and at a Fox News town hall hosted at the Lincoln Memorial in D.C.
“You’re sitting at the feet of Lincoln, and you’ve gotta understand that a tough, independent, free press is part of our democracy,” Charlie Sennott said of the president’s remarks.
Sennott joined Boston Public Radio on Monday, where he commemorated World Press Freedom Day by reflecting on the importance of a free and powerful press, and the troubling erosion of journalism both at home and abroad.
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The WGBH News analyst and GroundTruth Project CEO admitted he was worried "in a really big picture, about the health of journalism in our country, around the world, and what it means not just for journalism but for truth itself.”
He pointed to the physical risks for journalists in hostile foreign countries, but also called out economic pressures for journalists in the U.S.
"They change us to be more opinionated because that sells,” he said. “And they also really hurt good, trusted local journalism. We’re lucky in Boston [that] we have that, but around the country… it is dying. We’re seeing local journalism really perish.”
"It’s time to fight like hell for this craft that we love,” he said.
