AFPC-USA Responds to Incoming Administration's Recent Attacks Against Press Freedom

The Association of Foreign Press Correspondents condemns the recent attacks on the news media and press freedom in the strongest terms. The lawsuits threatened and filed by members of the incoming administration against the Des Moines Register, the New York Times, the Washington Post and other outlets are intended to intimidate reporters and chill critical news coverage that holds power to account. 

The threats are an attack on the American Constitution and our rights. Freedom of the press and free speech are enshrined in the First Amendment, and when they are challenged, the victims are the American people and all news organizations as well as the public good. There is no basis for attacking speech or press coverage that members of the incoming administration don’t like simply because they disagree with the content. That is not just fundamentally dishonest; it is antidemocratic and an existential threat to American values and all journalism, domestic and foreign. 

Free speech is a fundamental American value, and unfounded, false or nuisance attacks on a free press that are intended to instill fear and self-censorship are unconstitutional and un-American.