In The Lafayette newsroom, a quote on a chalkboard has remained for decades:

“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate to choose the latter,” Thomas Jefferson said.

President-elect Donald Trump has made it clear that there is no space for journalism in his America.

“We have to straighten out our press because we have a corrupt press,” Trump said last month during his campaign.

Under his presidency, we can expect a multi-faceted attack on the institution of journalism.

Throughout our country’s history, the limits of the freedom of the press have been pushed.

In 1964, the Supreme Court established “actual malice” — a standard in defamation law that requires people suing for libel to prove that the claim in question is both untrue and was spread knowingly and recklessly.

In the historic 1971 New York Times Company v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that former President Richard Nixon’s administration impeded reporters’ First Amendment rights trying to prevent the “Pentagon Papers” from being circulated in the newspaper.

These decisions, among others, granted journalists the ability to investigate without fear of prosecution, allowing for the printing of history-making stories. Trump — who has sued the New York Times, ABC and CNN — said during his last presidency that the country’s current libel laws were a “sham and a disgrace.”

We are already seeing a preview of restricted editorial freedom. The Washington Post’s owner Jeff Bezos barred the editorial board from endorsing Kamala Harris as a presidential candidate. The newspaper, with the slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” was bought by Bezos in 2013 and has since endorsed two presidential candidates. Bezos attributed the decision to rebuilding trust in the media in an October op-ed; others claim he did so out of fear of possible retaliation from the Trump administration.

Trump has also suggested threatening the imprisonment of journalists. At a 2022 rally, while explaining how to uncover the leaker of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Trump said, “You take the writer of the article and ‘you say ‘you’re going to jail,’ and when this person realizes he is going to be the bride of another prisoner very shortly, he will say ‘I’d very much like to tell you exactly who that leaker was.’”

Journalism is already a struggling field, with more than two local newspapers a week going out of business in the United States last year and many more facing significant financial difficulties. The distrust that Trump created in the media has caused long-term damage. 

One way we can fight for our right to create, read and engage in free press is to show support for The PRESS Act. The bill would give protection to a journalist’s right to newsgather without government surveillance or interference. A bipartisan bill, the PRESS Act passed in the House of Representatives unanimously and is currently stalled in the Senate.

To support this bill, you can call your local representatives and urge them to advance it. Consider subscribing to your local newspapers, digitally or physically, and help keep journalism afloat. Proactive measures are essential. 

Governing bodies and authoritative figures have a duty and responsibility to open themselves to journalists — for good and bad. We cannot accept any less than that.