President Trump’s turbulent relationship with the media is quite well known. His administration has also constantly criticized the media coverage of the Iran war, tagging it as too negative. Now, Trump has threatened to put the journalist behind bars who broke the story of one of the two U.S. soldiers being rescued after an American F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet was shot down over Iran on Friday.
According to Trump, the news of only one soldier being rescued and the other one being left behind posed a great threat to his life. While American forces successfully rescued the second soldier by early Sunday, the President claimed that the “leak” made the work significantly more difficult as the U.S. government had planned on keeping that information a secret.
Trump then vowed to find whoever had broken the news, saying, “We think we’ll be able to find it out. Because we’re going to go to the media company that released it, and we’re going to say, ‘National security. Give it up or go to jail.”
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However, neither Trump nor the White House mentioned the name of the media company that he was referring to. Talking to NBC News, a White House official mentioned that “an investigation is underway.”
Nonetheless, Trump appeared extremely frustrated over the news being reported, which was made live by various websites. Explaining the repercussions of the “leak,” he said, “All of a sudden, they [the Iranians] know that there’s somebody out there.”
He then added, “They see all these planes coming in. It became a much more difficult operation because a leaker revealed that we have one, we’ve rescued one, but there’s another one out there that we’re trying to get.”
Trump then referred to the bounty to emphasize how desperate the authorities over there were to locate the second airman. He said, “Actually, the country Iran, put out a major notice — you all saw it — offering a very big award for anybody who captures the pilot. So in addition to a hostile, very talented, very good, very evil military, we had millions of people trying to get an award, so when you add that to it, but we have to find that leaker, because that’s a sick person.”
While Trump seems determined to find the journalist who broke the news, Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University mentioned that the President’s threat essentially attacks the fundamental rights of a reporter.
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Jaffer said, “News organizations have a First Amendment right to publish stories about matters of public importance—including stories the government would prefer to suppress.”
He further added, “President Trump’s threat to force journalists to disclose their sources raises serious press freedom concerns because journalists’ ability to do their work turns in part on their ability to protect their sources’ identities. President Trump’s threat should be understood as an effort to intimidate the press and to prevent journalists from doing work the public needs them to do.”
Besides threatening journalists and firing his key cabinet members, Trump has also been repeatedly threatening Iran regarding the opening of the Strait of Hormuz. However, his endeavors have not yet yielded any positive results as the strait remains closed and the war continues to escalate.
