【White House threatens media: "No editing, or we'll sue you into bankruptcy"]
A recording released by the New York Times on January 17 shows that after CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) interviewed President Trump, White House Press Secretary Leavitt conveyed Trump's instructions to the press team: the 13-minute interview must be broadcast "intact and unedited".
She threatened the journalists face-to-face, saying that President Trump required CBS to play the entire interview video without editing. If the interview content was not fully broadcast, the White House would "sue you into bankruptcy".
The Trump administration's anti-editing strategy is essentially a legal intimidation tactic to reestablish "media controllability". From suing BBC to threatening CBS, the core logic is to characterize media editing as "political interference", using litigation and high compensation demands to force media self-censorship.
This move has strengthened the support base, but it has exacerbated polarization in the U.S. media environment, and in the long term may weaken the public's trust in the authenticity of news.
Risk warning: Whether the White House's threatening remarks constitute legal "coercion" needs to be analyzed in conjunction with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and case law; there is currently no consensus.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1854782354265088/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author alone