Trump's Media Enmity Threatens a Free Press

[Commentary] As president, [Donald Trump] would be in position to use government agencies to constrain media and to harass and punish individual media companies that offended him during his campaign or that too aggressively cover his administration. Broadcasting and cable are especially vulnerable because their businesses are directly and heavily regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. One of the things we have learned from the Obama Administration is that the notion that the FCC is independent of the White House is a joke. See network neutrality.

Trump wouldn't be the first to abuse the office in such a way. Lyndon Johnson and especially Richard Nixon were adept at using government power to pressure the networks and their affiliates. During the height of Watergate, Nixon threatened the Washington Post's TV licenses. There are a lot of reasons to support or not support a candidate for president. For broadcasters, I think, this is a big one. They have an obligation to preserve and protect the First Amendment as it preserves and protects them.