This Monday, the press freedom organization Committee to Protect Journalists announced the winner of its “Overall Achievement in Undermining Global Press Freedom” award, and it was none other than U.S. President Donald Trump.
The committee’s release of a list highlighting “top global press oppressors” was in response to Trump’s upcoming “fake news awards,” according to The Hill.
“While previous U.S. presidents have each criticized the press to some degree, they have also made public commitments to uphold its essential role in democracy, at home and abroad,” the committee wrote in a post on its website.
“Trump, by contrast, has consistently undermined domestic news outlets and declined to publicly raise freedom of the press with repressive leaders such as Xi [Jinping], [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan, and [Abdel Fattah al-]Sisi.”
In the committee’s “Most Thinned-Skinned” category, Trump was runner-up to Turkish president Erdoğan.
“He regularly attacks outlets and individual journalists on Twitter and in speeches, calling them ‘sad,’ ‘failing,’ or ‘garbage.’ Since declaring his presidential candidacy in 2015, Trump has posted about 1,000 tweets critical of the press.”
Trump originally planned to released the winners of his “fake news awards” this Monday, but he announced in tweet this Sunday that the winners would be announced this Wednesday.
“The Fake News Awards, those going to the most corrupt & biased of the Mainstream Media, will be presented to the losers on Wednesday, January 17th, rather than this coming Monday,” Trump tweeted. “The interest in, and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated!”
[Featured image via screen grab/YouTube]
