"While the president has settled some suits, and judges have dismissed others, his court fights continue with the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and other news outlets."
"Donald Trump called the media “the enemy of the American people” in a social media post a month after he was first sworn in as president in 2017. Since then, both in his personal capacity and as president, he has taken aim at media outlets and personalities he dislikes.
The new president’s pronouncement back then set off alarm bells. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Arizona), a vocal critic of Trump who didn’t seek reelection in 2018, excoriated the president on the Senate floor for using a phrase “infamously spoken by Joseph Stalin.” Others, including veteran CBS News correspondent Marvin Kalb, drew parallels to Sen. Joseph P. McCarthy’s Red Scare bombast in the 1950s.
Nine years and another election later, Trump and members of his administration have escalated their words into action, raising alarm among free press groups. After the Pentagon introduced a new press policy that press freedom groups called restrictive, journalists walked out en masse rather than comply. The Defense Department filled their seats with friendly, largely right-wing media instead. Trump and his allies in the government have also threatened to yank broadcast licenses for news outlets deemed oppositional."
Laura Wagner and Scott Nover report for the Washington Post January 25, 2026.
SEE ALSO:
"The Cruelty and Theatre of the Trump Press Conference" (New Yorker)
"Opinion: One Year In, Donald Trump’s War On The Press Has Become Relentless" (Poynter)
"Trump Lawsuits Seek To Muzzle Media, Posing Serious Threat To Free Press" (The Conversation)
"Trump Administration’s ‘Media Bias’ List Raises Alarm, CPJ Says" (Committee to Protect Journalists)
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