Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate, released an essay on his campaign website this week attacking President Donald Trump. Romney, also a Republican and U.S. Senate candidate in Utah, broke from his party’s stance on the media in his essay.
Romney used his essay typer skills to dig into the core topic of free press after he was asked if he would take action to shut down media outlets.
In the essay titled “As I See It: The Free Press, a Pillar of Democracy,” Romney makes his point clear that the free press is a pillar of the United States’ democracy.
“The President tweeted this week, ‘There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People…’ He was referring to ‘CNN and others in the Fake News business,’ not foreign provocateurs,” he writes.
He mentions how every president has had to deal with false stories and attacks in the media, but no one has “vilified the American press or one of its professional outlets as an ‘Enemy of the People.'”
George Washington endured routine attacks by newspapers, and many were funded by his own Secretary of State.
Romney mentions how attacking media outlets that lean in a different direction may be “good politics.” All parties deal with their own set of different-leaning media reports and outlets. He claims while it may be a brilliant tactic in politics, it is coming at a big cost of freedom.
He claims that the media is “our friend,” and that even if biased, the work of free press is essential to the preservation of the United States. He claims that he has also read stories, also about himself, that were wrong, yet he would never call a news organization an enemy.
Trump has been accused of inciting violence and has worked very hard to discredit the media, especially outlets that do not agree with his agenda. He has told the people to listen to certain news outlets that agree with him, namely Fox News, which many people view as a very dangerous practice.
Romney does claim that the people need to call for accuracy and responsibility in reporting. But he also understands that free press is guaranteed under the Constitution, which he, and many others, view as one of the key means to preserve the Republic.