Trump's rhetoric about opening up libel laws on journalists sure seems like a restriction on free speech. You don't even have to win a libel case to have the desired effect, just the threat of financial ruin as you get buried under a mountain of legal fees is enough to have a chilling effect on real investigative journalism.
I'm torn on this, but I immediately revert back to the 1st Amendment when I feel this way.
On one hand, it's impossible to ignore just how bad the media has gotten this past decade with the advance of social media and the internet. Pretty much anyone can call themselves a journalist and preach anything they want and get away with it.
And we've seen how damaging this can be for both sides: the Left and the Right. In Trump's case, EVERY SINGLE mainstream media source out there misconstrued, or completely blew out of proportion, almost everything that he said.
"Hates Mexicans"? Nope, he said he wants to reform the Immigration Policy of this country and kick out those who aren't paying up. There's no hate about that; it's rational thinking. We are in massive debt, we have nowhere to house them, we have no jobs for them, and we can't afford them. He wants to give those opportunities to those of us who are ACTUAL citizens of this country. Who pay taxes.
Then he went on to explain....in his own way.....that the people who are taking the most advantage of our over-burdened Immigration System are the Drug Cartels. You know....the ones who are rapists and murderers....
"Hates Muslims"? Nope. Again, he wants to keep them out until we fix the system so that we don't go down the toilet with a grossly out of control Muslim problem like they have in Europe.
And then they had the gall to call him Racist....when time and time again, as his history clearly shows, he is anything but.
So from his perspective, I agree that the so-called "Journalists" in this country need to be held either to a higher, non-biased standard, or they need to be held accountable for what they write.
At the same time....the 1st Amendment means "Freedom Of Speech". It doesn't matter what people say, short of a threat: it's their right to say it. A Journalist can say whatever the fuck he wants.
No easy answers here, I'm afraid. But one thing's for sure: the Media in this country is out of control. If there is a way to fix it without stepping on the 1st Amendment, then I'm all for it.
