Over 40 editors in chief, CEOs and publishers representing media from around the world have signed a letter addressed to President Trump outlining how his regular labelling of mainstream news outlets as ‘fake news’ as well as the exclusion of critical media outlets from a recent White House press briefing signalled a worrying decline in accountability for his administration.

“It is deeply unhelpful to see the President of the United States of America fuelling antagonism towards news outlets by labelling them – misleadingly - as ‘fake news’,” the letter to President Trump said. “We fear that the overall climate for media freedom currently being fostered by your presidency seriously jeopardises the on-going ability of a free press to hold power to account in the United States.”

The letter, sent to the US administration on behalf of the Executive Committee, World Editors Forum and Media Freedom boards of the Paris-based World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), highlighted the damage the president’s comments – regularly made using the social media platform Twitter – are having on an industry attempting to respond to the phenomenon of disinformation and ‘fake news’.

Signalling growing concern from among the international press community, the letter highlighted the United States’ historic relationship with a free press to underline how the president’s actions since coming to office risk inspiring leaders in countries with weaker press freedom safeguards to repress or stifle essential freedoms. The letter also firmly rejected President Trump’s repeated accusation that media is the ‘enemy of the American People’.

“At a time when journalists and news media are being increasingly targeted for violent reprisal (and, in too many cases, often deadly retribution as a result of the work they do), the tone of your comment is highly inflammatory,” said the letter. “In a deeply divided America, a country facing many challenges on numerous fronts, the need for a vocal and critical press to act as the watchdog over essential freedoms on behalf of society seems more urgent than ever.”

WAN-IFRA urged the president to “welcome and encourage the kind of rigorous self-criticism a free media upholds as a means of ensuring the highest attainable standards of governance,” calling for a meeting between his administration and representatives from the global media to discuss rebuilding a better relationship.

Read the full letter here: http://www.wan-ifra.org/node/170915/

Contact / Inquiries

For more information, contact Andrew Heslop, Director Press Freedom, WAN-IFRA.andrew.heslop@wan-ifra.org

More information about WAN-IFRA’s media freedom work: www.wan-ifra.org/pressfreedom

WAN-IFRA  is the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. Its mission is to protect the rights of journalists across the world to operate free media, and provide its members with professional services to help their business prosper in a digital world and perform their crucial role in open societies. It derives its authority from its global network of leading news publishing companies and technology entrepreneurs, and its legitimacy from its 80 member publisher associations representing 18,000 publications in 120 countries. . More on www.wan-ifra.org

The World Editors Forum (WEF) is the leading network for print and digital editors of newspapers and news organisations around the world. It is built on a commitment to defend press freedom and promote quality journalism and editorial integrity. WEF is at the forefront of newsroom change. It helps editors from all over the world shape their newsrooms and the journalism of the future, by identifying newsroom innovation, trends, tools and practices. It shares intelligence through its daily blog, networking events, conferences, research and study tours. The World Editors Forum is an established network with a 20-year history of connecting editors on issues that matter for the future of independent and free news publishing. More on www.wan-ifra.org/wef