Former civil rights attorney and prosecutor Charles Coleman Jr., guest host for Ali Velshi this week, sits down with Nikole Hannah-Jones, Pulitzer-prize-winning author of the 1619 Project and founder of the Center for Journalism & Democracy at Howard University, to talk about the hostility facing journalists and a free press in the second Trump administration.
During the first Trump administration, the president and his staff presented “alternative facts” about reality, both consequential and inconsequential, pursued lawsuits against journalists and press surveillance, and attempted to legislate against news media. Considering the threats against the media made during the campaign, the next four years may determine the future of the free press in America — and our collective regard for the truth.
“We are facing an epic battle in the next four years with an administration that we know has a history of attacking journalists,” Hannah-Jones says.
“What’s critical is that the public understands why the press exists. Why does the press exist in a free society? Why are we the only profession protected by the First Amendment? It’s because the founders, for all their flaws, understood that you could not have a democracy, if you do not have an independent press that can hold power accountable.”
LISTEN: HOW JOURNALISTS SERVE THE PUBLIC AND DEMOCRACY
WATCH: COLEMAN JR. AND HANNAH-JONES ON THREATS TO OUR FREE PRESS
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