New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger confirmed a meeting with President Donald Trump, revealing on Sunday that he urged the president to stop calling the media “fake news.”
“I told him that although the phrase ‘fake news’ is untrue and harmful, I am far more concerned about his labeling journalists ‘the enemy of the people,’” he explained in a five-paragraph statement about his meeting with the president.
Trump revealed the meeting first on Twitter, noting that he had an “interesting” meeting with Sulzberger.
“Spent much time talking about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, ‘Enemy of the People,’” he wrote. “Sad!”
Sulzberger said he urged Trump to stop vocally attacking journalists, warning of threats and possible violence as a result.
“I warned that it was putting lives at risk, that it was undermining the democratic ideals of our nation, and that it was eroding one of our country’s greatest exports: a commitment to free speech and a free press,” he wrote.
Sulzberger concluded that Trump was free to criticize news articles that he felt were unfair, including reports published by the Times.
Trump responded on Twitter by criticizing the media for “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
“Very unpatriotic!” he wrote. “Freedom of the press also comes with a responsibility to report the news accurately.”
He complained that 90 percent of the media coverage of his administration was negative.
“It’s no surprise that confidence in the media is at an all-time low!” he wrote. “I will not allow our great country to be sold out by anti-Trump haters in the dying newspaper industry.”
Trump accused reporters of trying to distract and cover up his administration’s success at making America great again.
“[T]he failing New York Times and the Amazon Washington Post do nothing but write bad stories even on very positive achievements – and they will never change!” he wrote: