GENEVA ¨C U.S. President Donald Trump¡¯s verbal attacks on the media run the risk of triggering real violence against journalists, the U.N. rapporteur for freedom of expression said on Thursday.
In a joint statement with Edison Lanza, who holds the same post at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, David Kaye said Trump¡¯s tirades against the media violated the basic norms of press freedom.
¡°These attacks run counter to the country¡¯s obligations to respect press freedom and international human rights law,¡± they said.
¡°We are especially concerned that these attacks increase the risk of journalists being targeted with violence.¡±
Trump frequently brands stories and outlets he dislikes as ¡°fake news.¡± Last week CNN said one of its White House correspondents was excluded from a Trump event, prompting a complaint from the White House Correspondents Association.
The freedom of expression experts said Trump¡¯s attacks on the press were designed to raise doubts about verifiable facts, and that he and his administration had sought to undermine reporting on potential illegal conduct.
¡°But he has failed to show even once that specific reporting has been driven by any untoward motivations,¡± Kaye and Lanza said.
They also urged the administration to stop suing journalists to discover their sources and to stop using the Espionage Act to pursue whistle-blowers. There have been at least two prosecutions of people leaking to journalists under that law.
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