Columbia Journalism Review reports that since late November, reporters in France have been harassed and sometimes assaulted for attempting to report on the protest movement known as Yellow Vests.
“This past weekend, a group of Yellow Vests in the northern city of Rouen set upon two journalists working for LCI, a French TV news broadcaster; they were spared by two bodyguards, one of whom ended up in the hospital with a broken nose ... In Toulouse, a group of protesters trapped a 31-year-old local journalist in her car and threatened her with rape...”
Fires have been started outside newspaper offices and truck drivers attempting to deliver copies of papers have been blocked and threatened.
Meanwhile, in the USA ...
Last August, during the one-year anniversary of a deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., a protester from the left-wing group Antifa cursed at a CNN reporter and swatted away his camera.
This month, on Jan. 7, President Donald Trump sent three tweets: “With all of the success that our Country is having, including the just released jobs numbers which are off the charts, the Fake News & totally dishonest Media concerning me and my presidency has never been worse. Many have become crazed lunatics who have given up on the TRUTH! ... The Fake News will knowingly lie and demean in order make the tremendous success of the Trump Administration, and me, look as bad as possible. They use non-existent sources & write stories that are total fiction. Our Country is doing so well, yet this is a sad day in America! ... The Fake News Media in our Country is the real Opposition Party. It is truly the Enemy of the People! We must bring honesty back to journalism and reporting!”
According to The Hill, Trump tweeted or re-tweeted the phrase “fake news” nearly 200 times last year and has already used the phrase several times in 2019.
CJR went on to report: “Public trust in journalists is critically low. And the media has lacked consistent support from politicians, who, as in the U.S. and elsewhere, have indulged anti-press attacks more frequently in recent years. ... For now, politicians and well-intentioned activists — via public platforms and out on the streets — should speak out in support of the press, and look out for the journalists who, by doing their jobs, are putting themselves in harm’s way. And media-watchers in the U.S. should pay attention. In France, the fear of routine physical violence against reporters has become real.”
The way to combat “fake news” is not to attack reporters, but to check the source of reports and be specific when calling out errors and outright lies.
