RTDNA urges senators to ignore call to investigate journalists

The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) Voice of the First Amendment Task Force is calling on the Senate Intelligence Committee to ignore a tweet from President Donald Trump seeking an investigation into what he called “Fake News Networks.” The Senate Intelligence Committee is one of several entities investigating allegations of collusion between Russia and some members of the Trump campaign and inner circle. While at first the tweet appears to be just another escalation of the president’s ongoing rhetorical war against news stories with which he disagrees or that he just doesn’t like, the task force believes it must be taken seriously.

"This White House has said that Mr. Trump’s tweets constitute official communications from the president of the United States. So what we have here is the highest elected official in the land seeking a congressional investigation into the content of news reports,” said Dan Shelley, RTDNA Executive Director. “Such an investigation would be a clear violation of the First Amendment.”