I could not sit idly by and not respond to a recent letter to the Editor concerning the supposed attack on the free press. It is true, we should be glad that our Constitution promotes freedom of speech and freedom of the Press. However, what I do not support is how lazy the mainstream media and big-name newspapers have become… namely, The New York Times, Washington Post, and TV coverage such as ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, MSNBC, CNN, and many social media outlets. These sources of news rightly push freedom of the Press; however, that does not mean they should be free to push false narratives or not drill down to real truth. Recent letters to the Editor suggest the Trump Administration is targeting the free press and he refers to many as “fake news”. In defense of President Trump’s accusations, let’s look at a few reasons why he says that.

The nation argued for five years over the “Steele Dossier”, a document the FBI investigated during the 2016 presidential campaign. It should have been called the “Clinton Dossier” since her Democrat lead party paid for it and promoted it. According to the FBI, Democrats and mainstream media, Trump had secret and nefarious ties with Russia. Supposedly, Christopher Steele was a credible source and came across troubling “evidence” of Trump collusion. It took a year for congressional investigators to reveal the dossier had in fact been commissioned by the opposition-research firm Fusion GPS, working with the Democrat Party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign. It took two more years and millions of dollars for the Justice Department Inspector General Horowitz to expose that Steele had relied on a Russian source that turned out to be hearsay.

Then we have the Hunter Biden “laptop from hell” pushed by the FBI and again all mainstream media and social media as Russian disinformation. This had a major effect on the 2020 Presidential election and it was revealed that a significant number of registered Independents would have voted differently had they known the Biden laptop contained information that was in fact real. Forensic analysis authenticated some of the emails and alleged corruption by the Biden Family through influence pedaling the Biden name (The Big Guy). Wow, the China connection was deep and wide involving the Biden family. The New York Post broke the stories; however, social media companies blocked links to it, while other news outlets declined to publish the story.

Let us not forget how the media covered for Joe Biden’s cognitive mental decline. Remember how Joe Scarborough (Morning Joe) claimed Biden was at his intellectual peak and asserted how sharp Biden appeared … yeah, right!

There are numerous other stories that slant toward a biased media covering for and promoting liberal agendas that build up the Democrat Party platforms while diminishing conservative views. Did you know that 92% of coverage for President Trump has been negative. No wonder President Trump feels the way he does about the Press… so do I. Yes, we want freedom of the Press, but we also want the Press to stop publishing hearsay and do their job at finding the truth and provide balanced reporting… the favorable news along with the unfavorable news.

I don’t know about you but I’m sick of “made in China” on about everything I purchase. President Trump is doing what the majority of voters elected him to do, secure the borders, try to stop wars, stabilize inflation, bring down healthcare costs, doing something about the massive $36 trillion national debt through fair trade, and bring back manufacturing jobs. Thank you, President Trump, for caring about working-class Americans and senior citizens.  Shame on you Free Press, do your job without bias.

Ray Artman

Tullahoma