Presidents and the press: An historical context

Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without the danger of losing it. — Thomas Jefferson, 1786

And so it is, the printing press — to the recorder of Man’s deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news — that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent. — John F. Kennedy, 1961

The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American people! — Donald John Trump, 2017

Do Donald Trump’s tweets on the free press signal the end of a 240-year experiment known as American democracy, or is this just a nightmare? As Dylan said in “Talkin’ World War III Blues,” “I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours.”

This story was originally published March 8, 2017 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Presidents and the press: An historical context."