Trump Banning Reporters Echoes Nixon, China
- Jun 15, 2016
- 1 min read
From HuffPost
Banning the Washington Post from covering his campaign rallies isn't just a sign of Donald Trump's distrust of the press. Reporters are an early warning system. History shows that politicians who turn against the media and cut off their access don't stop there.
Banning the Washington Post from covering his campaign rallies isn't just a sign of Donald Trump's distrust of the press. Reporters are an early warning system. History shows that politicians who turn against the media and cut off their access don't stop there.
Remember Richard Nixon. Nixon made no bones about it -- he hated the press, made life difficult for reporters, put members of the press on his "enemies list." He tried to block publication of the Pentagon Papers in the New York Times. His vice president Spiro Agnew denounced the press in a famous 1970 speech as "nattering nabobs of negativism." Recordings of Nixon's White House conversations are filled with his attacks on the press and disparaging comments about them.
