RonNell Anderson Jones

[Commentary] When President Donald Trump declared that reporters are “among the most dishonest human beings on earth,” it was not the first time he had disparaged the press. Nor was it out of character when his press secretary threatened “to hold the press accountable” for reporting truthful information that was unflattering to President Trump. Episodes like these have become all too common in recent weeks. So it’s comforting to know that the Constitution serves as a reliable stronghold against Trump’s assault on the press. Except that it doesn’t.

The truth is, legal protections for press freedom are far feebler than you may think. Even more worrisome, they have been weakening in recent years. Journalists have few constitutional rights when it comes to matters such as access to government sources and documents, or protection from being hounded by those in power for their news gathering and reporting. In those respects, journalists are vulnerable to the whims of society and government officials. America’s press freedom, in other words, is something of a mishmash. We cannot simply sit back and expect that the First Amendment will rush in to preserve the press, and with it our right to know. Like so much of our democracy, the freedom of the press is only as strong as we, the public, demand it to be.

[RonNell Andersen Jones is a law professor at the University of Utah. Sonja R. West is a law professor at the University of Georgia.]