Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Florida on Oct. 12, 2016. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
The Committee to Protect Journalists has released a statement warning that a Donald Trump presidency would pose grave threats to press freedom.
The chairman of CPJ’s board, Sandra Mims Rowe, said in the release that “Donald Trump, through his words and actions as a candidate for president of the United States, has consistently betrayed First Amendment values.”
The announcement follows a CPJ resolution on Oct. 6 declaring Trump an “unprecedented threat to the rights of journalists.”
The statement from Rowe outlines several examples of Trump’s use of insults and legal threats against journalists and media companies, as well as ejecting them from press conferences for “impertinent questions”
“This is not about picking sides in an election.” Rowe wrote. “This is recognizing that a Trump presidency represents a threat to press freedom unknown in modern history.”