Washington Post Editor Marty Baron says journalists must "fight for free expression and a free press" as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to lead the nation.
"He was elected after waging an outright assault on the press. Animosity toward the media was a centerpiece of his campaign. He described the press as 'disgusting,' 'scum,' 'lowlifes.' He called journalists the 'lowest form of humanity," Baron said at an awards dinner in New York City, Vanity Fair reports.
"That apparently wasn’t enough. So he called us 'the lowest form of life.' In the final weeks of the campaign he labeled us ‘the enemies.’ … Getting elected didn't change anything ..."
"Many journalists wonder with considerable weariness what it is going to be like for us during the next four—perhaps eight—years. Will we be incessantly harassed and vilified? Will the new administration seize on opportunities to try intimidating us? Will we face obstruction at every turn? If so, what do we do? The answer, I believe, is pretty simple. Just do our job."
Baron's remarks came as he received the Hitchens Prize — named for the late best-selling author and Vanity Fair writer Christopher Hitchens — at The Waverly Inn, the trendy Greenwich Village eatery co-owned by Vanity Fair Editor-in-Chief Graydon Carter.
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