‘Get the f*** out’? No way. Washington reporters not cowed by Trump-worshipping thugs
During simultaneous uprisings of Donald Trump disciples in Washington D.C. and Olympia Wednesday, there was so much chilling evidence that our democratic institutions are under siege, it’s hard to know where to start.
For us, the one that naturally ranks at the top was the brazen assault on the free press, America’s First Amendment birthright — especially after a member of our own news reporting team was confronted by an armed thug and threatened with physical harm on the state Capitol grounds.
“Get the fuck out!” the man yelled while stepping aggressively toward McClatchy reporter Sara Gentzler and another journalist. “We’re serious, get the fuck out!” (A short video clip can be seen on Gentzler’s Twitter page.)
He later told them he’d already pepper-sprayed media members, and they’d better be gone in five minutes. And the coup de grace: “We’re going to shoot you fucking dead in the next year,” Gentzler said the man told her.
This contemptible attack on Gentzler, who covers state government for The News Tribune and The Olympian, brought home the ugliness that was unfolding on a much larger stage across the country.
A Trump-worshiping mob swarmed news reporters outside the US Capitol, intimidated them with chants and personal invective, and smashed or stole their equipment. A camera cord was hung like a noose from a tree. The words “Murder the media” were carved into a Capitol door.
Wednesday’s anti-media frenzy wasn’t contained to the two Washingtons, or even to the United States. The New York Times reported a Salt Lake Tribune photographer was pushed and pepper-sprayed in the eyes by people protesting the election results outside the Utah Capitol. Meanwhile, a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation photographer was punched in the face at a Trump rally in Vancouver, B.C.
Perhaps we should have known it would come to this. Trump’s disgraceful and repeated claims of “fake news,” along with his ludicrous branding of hard-working journalists as “the enemy of the people,” was destined to infect the minds and inflame the deeds of his most impressionable followers.
Indeed, it had already happened before Wednesday. Since 2017, 360 journalists have been attacked while covering protests, according to the US Press Freedom Tracker coordinated by the Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Committee to Protect Journalists. (A great many of them have faced violence from law enforcement officers, which is another problem entirely.)
To be clear, journalism has never been a profession for the faint of heart. The perils are greatest for reporters working in war zones, in countries ruled by despotic regimes or in places beset by lawlessness. In 2020, at least 50 journalists lost their lives around the world, many of them due to a surge in targeted killings, according to the annual report of media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders.
Austin Tice, a McClatchy correspondent who went missing in Syria nearly 5 1/2 years ago, exemplifies the risks that reporters face overseas.
In America, the threat of physical harm at the hands of bad actors has been relatively small, thanks to the tradition of a free press enshrined in our Constitution.
Alas, the Trump administration has habitually made a mockery of the Constitution. One casualty is our country’s unfettered freedom of the press and a communal respect — though sometimes grudging— for the professionals who exercise it daily.
A fully functioning, unintimidated press corps is as important today as it’s ever been. Our country is struggling to emerge from a once-a-century public health crisis and economic lockdown, racking up trillions in new debt along the way. Joe Biden and a Democratic Congress should get as much scrutiny in this undertaking as Donald Trump and a Republican Senate have received..
Closed societies should appreciate the value of a free press more than anybody, and right now we’re living in a semi-closed society. COVID-19 has limited public access to government institutions, such as the Washington legislative session that opens Monday.
House minority leader JT Wilcox, R-Yelm, told our Editorial Board this week that the news media will serve an especially critical role in 2021 holding state leaders to account and ensuring all voices are heard in Olympia.
We agree. And Washington state journalists will rise to the occasion, despite any further displays of harassment or coercion that try to keep you in the dark.
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 3:45 PM.