Government & Communications

Millions of records that the Federal Communications Commission’s top lawyer once fought to hold back from state law enforcement officials now serve as key evidence in a year-long probe into cases of Americans being impersonated during the agency’s latest net neutrality proceeding.

Even by his standards, President Trump’s biting attacks on the press this week stand out.

America’s founders believed that a free press was essential to democracy because it is the foundation of an informed, engaged citizenry. That conviction, enshrined in the First Amendment, has been embraced by nearly every American president. All these presidents had complaints about their coverage and at times took advantage of the freedom every American has to criticize journalists.

President Donald Trump sought to discredit a news report that says he asked his then-acting Attorney General Matthew G. Whitaker whether he could put a Trump ally in charge of an investigation into hush money paid to women during the 2016 campaign. “The New York Times reporting is false,” President Trump said in a tweet. “They are a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!” President Trump was asked on Feb 19, after the Times story published online, about his reported inquiry to Whitaker. “No, I don’t know who gave you that, that’s more fake news,” President Trump told reporters.

A supporter of President Donald Trump attacked a BBC camera operator during a presidential rally in El Paso (TX), the broadcaster said. The president was talking about a decline in attacks on African, Hispanic, and Asian-Americans when the cameraman was pushed. A 36-second clip from Skeans’s camera before, during and after the shove was widely circulated on social media.

As China and the West race for 5G dominance, two digital powers with very different approaches to technology are staking out their corners. One side, championed in China, is a digital landscape where mobile payments have replaced cash. Smartphones are the devices that matter, and users can shop, chat, bank and surf the web with one app. The downsides: The government reigns absolute, and it is watching—you may have to communicate with friends in code. And don’t expect to access Google or Facebook. On the other side, in much of the world, the internet is open to all.

The internet—particularly its architecture and governance—is a major factor in state power and an important element of this era of great power competition, especially between the United States and China. There may be other, “flashier” technologies out there, sure, but in preparing for great power competition, let’s not forget what already enables cyber attacks, online commerce, and global connectedness in the broadest sense each and every day.

At the midpoint of his term, there remains little question that President Donald Trump exerts an influence on American politics that is straining our core values and testing the stability of our constitutional system. No president in living memory has shown less respect for its tenets, norms, and principles. President Trump has assailed essential institutions and traditions including the separation of powers, a free press, an independent judiciary, the impartial delivery of justice, safeguards against corruption, and most disturbingly, the legitimacy of elections.

President Donald Trump takes credit for popularizing the term “fake news.” But the consequences? Not his concern. In lengthy and at times contradictory remarks about the news media — which he deemed “important” and “beautiful,” but also “so bad” and “unfair” — President Trump called himself “a victim” of unfair coverage and declined to accept responsibility for a rise in threats against journalists since he took office. “I do notice that people are declaring more and more fake news, where they go, ‘Fake news!’” the President said. “I even see it in other countries.

Since announcing his candidacy in the 2016 presidential elections to the end of his second year in office, President Donald Trump has sent 1,339 tweets about the media that were critical, insinuating, condemning, or threatening. In lieu of formal appearances as president, Trump has tweeted over 5,400 times to his more than 55.8 million followers; over 11 percent of these insulted or criticized journalists and outlets, or condemned and denigrated the news media as a whole.