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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Guardian Has A MESSAGE For Journalists and ALL of US.
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Katharine Viner (Guardian Members)" <info@mail.theguardian.com>
Subject: Why we won't relent when our journalists are attacked
Date: May 26, 2017 at 9:17:22 AM PDT
Reply-To: "Katharine Viner (Guardian Members)" <reply-febe1672726c0d78-2652_HTML-20466318-1058977-48@mail.theguardian.com>
Hello,
Earlier this week, Guardian US political reporter Ben Jacobs went to talk to Greg Gianforte, a Trump-backed tech millionaire running for Congress in a hotly contested special election in Montana, about healthcare policy. That conversation ended when, according to witnesses, Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck, slammed him to the ground and punched him. Jacobs left the scene in an ambulance.
Less than 24 hours later, Gianforte was elected to Congress, one of the most powerful political positions in America.
The Guardian believes that Gianfortes election hours after he was charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly assaulting our reporter an incident recorded by Jacobs on his mobile phone and corroborated by a local Fox news crew that witnessed the attack sends an alarming signal about the health of American democracy and the swift erosion of press freedoms in the Trump era.
"It was the type of encounter I've never expected to have with a politician and one that's very disappointing for what it means for the role of reporters asking questions, said Jacobs. "We're asking questions on behalf of voters who deserve to know what a politician would do if they were elected to office in this case it was about a major healthcare bill that would reshape the American economy."
Gianfortes outburst was not a random act of violence. It came in the wake of the Guardians rigorous reporting of Gianfortes campaign.
In Jacobs audio recording of his meeting with Gianforte, the politician sounds frustrated by the Guardians work. Im sick and tired of you guys, Gianforte shouts at him. You with the Guardian? Your last guy did the same damn thing.
In April, the Guardian published an exclusive story written by Jacobs exposing Gianfortes financial ties to a number of Russian companies that have been sanctioned by the US. Earlier this week, we ran an interview with Gianforte about his controversial environmental policies as part of our Anywhere but Washington video series. In that interview, the Guardians west coast bureau chief, Paul Lewis, challenged Gianforte over his support of Trumps executive order that threatens more than two dozen national monuments in America, including the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in Montana.
This attack on the Guardian comes at a time when journalists are being demonized by the Trump administration and its supporters in unprecedented ways. The president has declared reputable media organisations the enemy of the American people, and at least seven reporters have been arrested this year in the US while covering anti-Trump protests.
It has never been more important for us to stand strong against these aggressions. Our journalists work with complete editorial independence, safeguarded by our unique ownership structure that ensures we are free from commercial or political interference. This means we can hold power to account, an essential role in protecting democracy.
Thank you for supporting independent journalism and the crucial role it plays in the world.
Katharine Viner,
Editor-in-chief, Guardian News & Media
furtheradu
(1,865 posts)I am without words.
IADEMO2004
(5,555 posts)steve2470
(37,457 posts)orangecrush
(19,572 posts)This is not a banana republic, unless WE LET IT HAPPEN.
I hope they sue the fucking pants off Gianforte, the Sheriff who donated to the Gianforte campaign who let him off with misdemeanor charges, and anyone else who helped protect this fascist scumbag.
annabanana
(52,791 posts)GOP is all in now isn't it....
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,005 posts)ProudProgressiveNow
(6,129 posts)longship
(40,416 posts)R&
Thanks for posting this.
FailureToCommunicate
(14,014 posts)kpete
(71,996 posts)Supports
The Guardian
cp
(6,636 posts)Thank you, Guardian!
DFW
(54,405 posts)Today more than ever, journalists not on a leash are needed.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)cannabis_flower
(3,764 posts)You have to remember that we have early voting, so Gianforte may have been so far ahead by the time this happened that it was impossible for his opponent to win.
And even though The Guardian wrote an article exposing his financial ties to Russian companies, I doubt it got enough local coverage to make a difference. Plus the fact that this was a very red area.
Amaryllis
(9,524 posts)their vote after the assault, but they could not. I'm pretty sure we can in Oregon but would need to check on that. We do have all paper ballots; don't know if MT does.
SCVDem
(5,103 posts)To change a mailed in ballot. I don't know how they can find it, but we can.
WTF is the problem with our electoral process?
Republicans!
Meowmee
(5,164 posts)I hope the press and everyone else will start taking this very seriously now since most of them didn't during the campaign of drumf
Historic NY
(37,451 posts)to ward off these raging morons.
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)republicans selling out America.
Deplorable.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Serious times.
iluvtennis
(19,863 posts)MrPurple
(985 posts)Even the rethugs would have trouble shrugging this off if it had been captured on video. The crazed anger that must have been on Gianforte's face, the physical reality of the assault. People will forget about this, but if there was a viral video clip, it would do a lot more damage.
ladym55
(2,577 posts)What have we become? And to every Montana voter who smugly told the press that they approved of Gianforte's actions please check out the Constitution. It's a wee bit more than Amendment 2.
japple
(9,833 posts)that most of those who voted for this idiot did so prior to this incident.
zentrum
(9,865 posts).....I heard that only 4% of the population voted. Still, after this incident, the anti-T people in Montana should have been very motivated TGOTV. Were they?
The other thing about this that drives me crazy is that if the assaulter had been Black, he'd have been handcuffed, called a "thug" and charged with a felony.
How this was a misdemeanor is beyond me.
Lokilooney
(322 posts)It does not meet the criteria, of course as Ben folds once sung, laaaaaaaws vary from state to staaaate.
zentrum
(9,865 posts)...maintain it "doesn't meet the criteria" for white guys only. But it's implicit.
ecstatic
(32,707 posts)Because before Ben Jacobs, there was and STILL is non stop chaos coming from that damn White House. Not to mention the potential treason that got Trump there in the first place.
By now, anyone with at least two brain cells should be able to see that Trump is EXTREMELY unfit, and that his GOP Congress is cruel beyond belief.
Voting GOP essentially means that you approve of Trump and the shitty bills coming out of the GOP controlled Congress. That you approve of the systematic dismantling of the ACA as well as the removal of crucial environmental laws. It means you approve of a loose cannon president who shares highly classified information with Russia while excluding American press. The list goes on and on...
All the Ben Jacobs incident has done is highlight how disgusting and deplorable the GOP has become. These racists are so blinded by hate that they are unwittingly undermining their own wellbeing and the freedoms that come with living in a Democratic society.
leftstreet
(36,108 posts)roamer65
(36,745 posts)Very apt quote from Patrick Henry.
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)The most important people to receive this message are other journalists:
"The GOP and this White house are trying to destroy the press, because destroying the press is required when turning a country authoritarian. Journalists can stop this by reporting the truth, not giving a crazy side equal play, and not just reporting what people say."
blue-wave
(4,356 posts)I have one question:
WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, MONTANA?
Our intelligence community and justice system had better get to the bottom of this Russian stuff very, very soon or we are fucked as a country. How can the people of Montana condone and endorse, through their votes, this guy?
benld74
(9,904 posts)Dealings
Montana
Not so much
Lokilooney
(322 posts)She seems to be erroneously conflating a politician being criminally charged for an act against an individual with an assault on journalism. Now, if he uses contacts or allies to prevent being charged that would be a different matter.
Also getting elected after the fact has as much to do with the "health of American democracy" as John Ashcroft loosing an election to a dead man that was kept on the ballot. Unless there are provisions preventing the outcome, it is a legitimate one.
ecstatic
(32,707 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)AgadorSparticus
(7,963 posts)Bob Loblaw
(1,900 posts)going forward should include the sentence; "Greg Gianforte hits like my little sister".
D_Master81
(1,822 posts)Trump has just stirred up the ugly underbelly that Rush, et al have been forming for more than 20 yrs. Everything that Trump has said about the media, RW talk radio guys have been saying since the Clinton years. They believe the media has a liberal agenda and they report in ways to push that agenda. So when Trump says they are an "enemy" they believe it cause they see the media as a part of the Democrat party, which is their real enemy.
ismnotwasm
(41,989 posts)mdbl
(4,973 posts)that voted for Gianforte