Brianna Tucker, The Washington Post; N.C. GOP spokesman urges reporter to drop news story, citing Trump ties
[Kip Currier: Memo to Matt Mercer (North Carolina GOP spokesman) re Mob-like threats (“I would strongly suggest dropping this story,”) against ProPublica reporting on North Carolina Chief Justice Paul Newby:
Pssst...Read the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.American Civics 101: Freedom of the Press.
Meaning: You don't get to dictate what free and independent presses can report on in America.]
[Excerpt]
"A spokesman for the North Carolina Republican Party appeared to threaten the news outlet ProPublica — citing “connections” to the Trump administration — over a story it reported and ultimately published on a prominent conservative state Supreme Court judge.
The story examined state Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby, his starkly conservative transformation of the court and power over the state’s politics. When Newby declined to be interviewed and the court’s communications and media team did not respond to questions, the reporter contacted his daughter, who also serves as the state GOP’s finance director.
Instead, the publication said it received a response from North Carolina GOP spokesman Matt Mercer, attempting to coerce ProPublica to kill the story.
“I’m sure you’re aware of our connections with the Trump Administration and I’m sure they would be interested in this matter,” Mercer said in an email that ProPublica published.
He added: “I would strongly suggest dropping this story,” underlining “strongly” and putting it in bold type.
After the story published, Mercer doubled down in a social media post, urging Trump to “feed ProPublica to the USAID wood chipper,” referring to the president’s termination of thousands in funding and grants from the foreign aid agency earlier this year.
While President Donald Trump and top administration officials have targeted media organizations for critical coverage of him or his policies,it is unusual for a state party official to explicitly leverage a relationship with the administration and express a willingness to retaliate toward news organizations.
It’s unclear if and how Trump would retaliate against ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that does not receive government funding and relies on private grants and donations."
