This morning, President Donald Trump followed up on his threats to ban journalists from three major outlets -— including this one, MS NOW — with reporters, producers and cameramen from those organizations having their credentials confiscated when they tried to enter the White House grounds.

It marks an unprecedented and escalatory assault on journalism — the president, in the Oval Office on Friday, even described his decision as a ban on the free press. He’s not hiding it. He’s trying to ban reporters because of the content of their reporting

Notably, Trump did not identify a single story, report or inaccuracy that triggered his outrage. Instead, he blamed negative coverage and demanded favorable reporting.

To be clear, this is not normal, this is not business as usual. What’s happening right now is different: it is the latest threat against our cherished freedoms protected by the Constitution.

The media is not perfect. There is a debate to be had about who you can trust and where you should get your news. But this is something bigger.

Among the privileges and duties of a free press are to hold power to account, to ask the difficult questions and to document history as it happens. The president insists “fake news” is reporting that’s untrue. In fact, it’s reporting that he finds unflattering. But, here’s the reality: A little more than seven weeks until the midterm elections, many of the facts are unflattering.

Where to begin? Gas prices are now $4.48 a gallon on average, $1.50 more than where they were before the war with Iran began. Ask farmers about the price of diesel, which is now at a record high of nearly $6.50 a gallon. All of it due to a war the president started — a war he vowed would be done within weeks but is now in its seventh month. Eighteen American service members are dead, if not more.

And that doesn’t even scratch the surface. Trump is also engaged in a trade war with Canada. He has an obsession with the Kennedy Center, which he has threatened to demolish like the East Wing. Then there’s the grift and self-dealing like the Russian oligarch paying for his son’s wedding party. Over a billion dollars made by the Trump family. Those are all facts. They may be unflattering — but they’re not fake.

I’ve been there since the beginning. Trump’s frustration, his fury didn’t happen overnight. On the campaign trail, before he even took office, he would yell at us in the bullpen at his rallies, riling up the MAGA crowd. Once elected, he would insult reporters to their face and call journalists the “enemy of the people.” As one of my former colleagues described it, Trump is trying to discredit the messenger to create a vacuum where his version of reality fills the void.

But the answer from journalists is to report more. More sources. More facts. Our network released a statement today that reads in part: “MS NOW intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend… the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy… and will continue to report on the President, the administration, and the issues that impact the American people.”

Trump can’t stop reporters from reporting — and he can’t ban the facts.

The post Trump is trying to ban the facts because they’re unflattering, not because they’re ‘fake’ appeared first on MS NOW.

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From MS Now.