The judge and the journalist

President Trump continues to attack news media – with respected news organisations booted from the Pentagon and the White House media Corp whilst media sympathetic to the new President have been invited in, to silence the din of criticism. Since the interview was recorded, a US District Court Judge has overturned a Trump decision to remove the Associated Press (AP) from the White House press corp, over the organisations refusal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

The Judge said the US administration had retaliated against the AP over its editorial choices, violating protections for free speech under the U.S. Constitution. Donald Trump has signaled the White House will appeal the decision.  

In the meantime, Voice of America and Radio Free Asia have been shut down and NPR – National Public Radio is expected to have what little federal funding it receives cut in the next few months.

This week on Double Take, Monica speaks with Liz Spayd, Lecturer at Georgetown Graduate School of Journalism and former Managing Editor of The Washington Post. Spayd was also the sixth and last public editor of The New York Times where she oversaw matters of journalistic integrity and evaluated the standards being applied across the newsroom. Monica and Liz discuss the challenges news media in the United States now faces under President Trump, including how best to report his administration.

Listen here