Nick Corasaniti

The dairy farmer in Halcott (NY), a town about 140 miles north of New York City, was one of the first beneficiaries of an ambitious initiative to extend broadband to every household in the state by 2018 — no matter how rural or far-flung the address — which would make New York the first state to reach that high-speed internet milestone. For years, this town was like many isolated spots in New York and across the country, left sitting on the shoulders of the digital highway unable to access the broadband speeds that so many businesses and households count on. But now under a state-led program, towns like Halcott, with fewer than 300 residents, are getting wired, giving residents faster access to the internet and opening new opportunities for businesses. Under Gov Andrew Cuomo’s (D-NY) “Broadband for All” initiative, New York’s program is one of the most aggressive broadband expansions in the country, and is designed to help stem any losses a private company incurs through what is known as a reverse auction process.

Donald Trump’s efforts to discredit news media organizations, painting them as part of a broad conspiracy with the Hillary Clinton campaign, have reached an intensity never before seen from a presidential candidate — so much so that the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, a nonprofit group often focused on defending press freedoms in war-torn and totalitarian countries, made a rare statement regarding the American elections. “Donald Trump, through his words and actions as a candidate for president of the United States, has consistently betrayed First Amendment values,” Sandra Mims Rowe, the chairwoman for the group, said in a statement announcing that the group “passed a resolution declaring Trump an unprecedented threat to the rights of journalists and to CPJ’s ability to advocate for press freedom around the world.”

The news media has often been a frequent target of Trump’s wrath, but he has escalated his attacks over the last two days after news accounts that he behaved abusively toward some women. By attacking the news media, Trump appears to be seeking to delegitimize an industry he views as an impediment to his presidential ambitions, while riling up his base of supporters. On Oct 13, there were noticeably more Secret Service agents monitoring the new media’s pen, though the agency declined to comment about the protection. Both CNN and NBC News have their own security at Trump rallies to protect their reporters and cameramen.