By Mehdi Hasan and Team Zeteo
Photos: Zeteo\YouTube Screenshots\Wikimedia Commons
Donald Trump’s crackdown on the freedom of the press is in full swing in his second term as president. From banning the Associated Press from White House events and calling for the revocation of broadcast licenses, to floating a “nice new law” to curb what he calls “defamatory fiction” and saying what newspapers do “has to be illegal,” Trump is engaged in an outright assault against one of the only independent pillars of democracy left in the United States. In fact, both Trump and co-president Elon Musk have tried to use spurious claims of defamation or libel to censor their critics in the media.
Now, a new book from David Enrich, the business investigations editor at the New York Times, is laying bare right-wing efforts to dismantle libel laws and the chilling effect that high-profile libel cases are having on journalists, news organizations, and on the right to free speech in the US.
Titled ‘Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful,’ Enrich tells Mehdi how his book breaks down how conservative lawyers, judges and politicians are working to “make it much easier for people in positions of power, and with a lot of money, to prevent journalists and others from revealing their wrongdoing.”
The main target: The Supreme Court’s 1964 decision in New York Times v. Sullivan, which protected the freedom of the press to report on public officials. The ruling meant that in order to sue journalists and news organizations for defamation, the plaintiffs had to prove the material was published with actual malice.
Enrich believes the Supreme Court could narrow the scope of Sullivan, telling Mehdi “The chilling effect of that would be real,” especially for local news and independent outlets. “I think it really poses an existential threat to a lot of the citizen journalism and independent journalism we’ve seen in recent years,” Enrich says.
He notes that while narrowing libel laws is becoming more popular in conservative circles, it has the potential to backfire.
“A lot of right-wing media has been jumping on this anti-Sullivan, anti-free press bandwagon,” Enrich says. “And the fact of the matter is, they are among the most vulnerable people to these lawsuits.”
You can click here to buy a copy of Enrich’s latest book ‘Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful’ and, also, do share your own review of it with us in the comments below!
Looking for more book recommendations? Visit the Zeteo book club here for inspiration!
If you are a paid subscriber, you can watch the full interview above to hear Enrich’s thoughts on ABC’s recent settlement with Trump and the threats he faced from powerful people by writing about libel law.
Free subscribers can watch a 5-minute preview. Consider becoming a paid subscriber today to watch the full interview…
