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Essential to have free press, media

Donald J. Trump, was helped to his so-called election victory through the influence of former KGB agent Putin’s spy apparatus. The ousted National Security Advisor Flynn contacted the Russian Ambassador the day after President Obama imposed sanctions on Russia for interfering is the U.S. election, doing the “Wink, wink, nudge, nudge,” assuring Russia that the sanctions won’t be so bad when The Donald takes office. To everyone’s surprise, Putin did not respond harshly to Obama’s sanctions.

Moreover, it is more than probable that Trump staff were in contact and in cahoots with Russian operatives during the campaign. Russia wanted Trump installed as president and did everything it could to make it happen, releasing DNC and Podesta e-mails.

Now Trump is attacking any news outlet bold enough to speak the truth as putting out “fake news.” He calls the media “the enemy of the people.” Dangerous sentiments from a so-called president who is so close to the Russian dictator and seems to think that the U.S.A. and Russia are morally equivalent.

Trump’s intent is not hard to figure out. He is not in favor of real news; he wants Twitter-sized nuggets that support his way of thinking. In the old Soviet Union days, it was called propaganda.

The Donald can say his electoral college victory was the biggest in modern times but it is not so, it is fake news; he can say there were three million illegal votes but it is not so, it is fake news; he can say his administration is “like a well-oiled machine” but it is not so, it is fake news.

What Trump wants is a press like the old Soviet “Izvestia” that put out the party line or maybe Russia Today, a Putin puppet broadcast media organization.

The U.S. Constitution protects “Freedom of the Press” and no president should attempt to limit the press by calling its reporting “fake news” or saying it is an “enemy of the people.” The Daily News is just as much at risk as The Washington Post. Channel 6 is in the same boat as CNN. Keep the free press free.

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