The U.S. president’s words of condemnation following the suspected brutal and premeditated murder of a journalist earlier this month and last week’s attempted pipe bomb attacks were little more than empty, uninspired, meaningless and hypocritical platitudes.
Especially following on the heels of his adulating praise for a congressman and political ally who last year pled guilty to misdemeanour assault for body slamming a reporter.
How anyone who feigns to hold dear a shred of decency could unapologetically make excuses for a man who along the campaign trail claimed part of the problem these days is that “nobody wants to hurt each other anymore” and later said that a critical free press is “the enemy of the people” is beyond all reasonable logic.
When the U.S. president all but declared war on the press and unflinchingly defended Putin’s “strong and powerful” denials, one could logically assume that the rest of the world’s defacto dictators eagerly took note.
Although Canada, among several other nations, largely remains a beacon of hope, free speech in many other parts of the world remains under seemingly increasing assault.
And the kind of deflective rhetoric consistently regurgitated by the U.S. administration that seeks to demonize a free press rather than simply address questions is not conducive to healthy discourse and democracy.
Quite the opposite.
From Putin’s Russia to Mohammed bin Salman’s Saudi Arabia — not to mention Kim Jong-un’s North Korea and Erdogan’s Turkey — reporters who seek to expose corruption and injustice lay their lives on the line and all too often pay the ultimate price.
The disconcerting erosion of free speech along with direct attacks on the free press are not just because of the so-called politically correct police, but rather the result of emboldened autocrats who no longer fear any meaningful reprisals from a U.S. administration led by a president who believes, or at least unashamedly gives credence to, any despot's denial provided it is “strong and powerful” enough.
Jamal Khashoggi’s last column, published posthumously, was a desperate plea for improved press freedom throughout the largely repressive Middle East to empower the populace by providing people with a clearer perspective undistorted by manipulative state propaganda.
While the American president would have us believe that men are all potentially the next “victim” of the MeToo movement — despite the statistical fact false accusations are exceedingly rare — the reality is journalists around the world face mounting resentment and vitriol.
Times are not the greatest for the free press — journalists who cover the president’s WWE-style rallies have described disturbing gestures from the crowd such as the thumb-across-neck as well as raucous laughter that relishes the president’s praise for someone who physically assaults a reporter.
But for autocrats — especially those with financial ties to the Trump Empire — the good times are rolling.
As America withdraws into its protectionist shell of isolation from the global community, repressively regressive regimes such as Saudi Arabia are unlikely to suddenly be inspired to reform into benevolent bastions of human rights that respect free speech.
They just might, however, jump at the opportunity to crack down even more ruthlessly on dissent than ever as the world’s once loudest voice for protecting free speech drowns out into an inaudible whisper in the night that looks the other way while dictators act with impunity.
