Egypt planned to arrest a New York Times reporter. The Trump administration reportedly wanted to

[brooklynite]

Source: Washington Post

Egypt planned to arrest a New York Times reporter. The Trump administration reportedly wanted to let it happen.

In late 2017, the New York Times received an urgent warning from a U.S. official. Egyptian authorities were looking to arrest Declan Walsh, the newspaper’s reporter in Cairo, according to its publisher. It’s not unusual for a large media organization to get tipped off about threats to its journalists overseas, particularly those reporting on authoritarian governments.

But what was striking is what the official said next: The Trump administration had tried to keep the warning about Walsh from ever reaching the Times. Officials “intended to sit on the information and let the arrest be carried out,” Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger wrote in an opinion column on Monday.

This incident, described publicly by Sulzberger for the first time in a talk at Brown University earlier on Monday, adds a chilling new episode to the administration’s trend of attacking the press and diminishing the rights of journalists as they come under threat around the globe, the publisher wrote.

Where the United States was once seen as the top defender of press freedom, Sulzberger suggested Trump has inspired the opposite around the globe, citing recent threats made in an address by the Cambodian prime minister, a social media blackout in Chad, and attempts to arrest foreign journalists in Egypt, whose autocratic president Trump once jokingly called his “favorite dictator.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/09/24/trump-declan-walsh-ag-sulzberger-egypt/

[Stuart G]

1. k and r for exposure. Last paragraph deserves a repeat:

Where the United States was once seen as the top defender of press freedom, Sulzberger suggested Trump has inspired the opposite around the globe, citing recent threats made in an address by the Cambodian prime minister, a social media blackout in Chad, and attempts to arrest foreign journalists in Egypt, whose autocratic president Trump once jokingly called his “favorite dictator.”

[blm]

2. A despot in the WH.

[riversedge]

3. k and r

[mountain grammy]

4. K & R

thanks for posting.. saw this last night and was just about to post..

I'd say unbelievable, but nothing is anymore.

[bluestarone]

5. KICK

K&R

[MadLinguist]

6. and Declan Walsh is just the one we got to hear about. Shades of Khashoggi

There will be other cases coming to light is my guess.
Maybe the reason the Washington Post is the one to report about an incident that occurred at the New York Times is that they have realized a need to share information with one another for the protection of their staff. We are in full-blown fascism territory. Nothing subtle about it

[cstanleytech]

11. IMO if Trump knew they were going to kill and or torture Khashoggi Trump should be

prosecuted as there were any number of ways that it could have been prevented.

[IronLionZion]

18. Hell, Trump probably had people taking notes on how best to torture someone

[RightiswrongTn]

30. Jared Kushner... accessory to Murder

[mountain grammy]

25. Nope. Nothing subtle about it.

[not_the_one]

7. the turd would have let it happen

then, amid much showy bluster and consternation, in front of a camera, of course, arrange for release (which would have been agreed to with the Egyptian govt in advance), then take the credit, on camera, of course.

I refuse to use the word "evil" due to its religious connotations.

But this man is the atheist equivalent. He is rotten to the core.

[Maxheader]

9. The gop party is an extremist

dictatorship

[steventh]

10. This is one of the most troubling things I've read.

It's one more reason (in a long list of reasons) to go full speed ahead on impeachment investigation.

[Hekate]

12. KnR

[Enoki33]

13. The I in the MICE Russian mole recruiting kit stands for Ideology. tRump

keeps showing how applicable it is to him. Consider his reaction to the Khashoggi torture and murder.

[IronLionZion]

14. Declan Walsh is an Irish citizen, Ireland helped him get out of Egypt

while the US threw him under the bus to punish his newspaper. I don't know if Walsh reported anything Trump didn't like so it looks like it was a generic punishment against the New York Times.

He's probably still alive today because his last name is Walsh. If it was Khashoggi, there may be bone saws and a very different outcome.

Democracy dies in darkness

[AllyCat]

17. Wow!

[Ramsey Barner]

15. So of course the NY Times buries the story for almost two years

and only reveals it in an oral presentation at Brown.

Can't risk losing that access!

[maxrandb]

29. Well, the President standing by and encouraging the arrest and torture of a journalist

is obviously not as newsworthy as Hillary's risotto recipe

[Kota]

16. Another impeachable offense.

[dchill]

19. Despotic.

[dalton99a]

20. Kick

[yaesu]

21. the GOP terrorist organisation is the ISIS of America. nt

[mahatmakanejeeves]

22. Thanks. Like mountain grammy, I saw this last night. I was hoping someone would put it in LBN.

LawlessPerfidyHat Retweeted

Wow, these anecdotes from the publisher of the @nytimes https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/23/opinion/press-freedom-arthur-

Link to tweet

.
.
.

The publisher of the New York Times, A.G. Sulzberger, published an important article today about press freedom. He mentioned an incident in which I had to leave Egypt in a rush, fearing arrest, two years ago. Some context on that:

Link to tweet

.
.
.

Opinion
The Growing Threat to Journalism Around the World
In many countries, journalists are being targeted because of the role they play in ensuring a free and informed society.

By A. G. Sulzberger
Mr. Sulzberger is the publisher of The New York Times.

Sept. 23, 2019

[This Op-Ed was originally delivered as a talk at Brown University on Monday.]

Our mission at The New York Times is to seek the truth and help people understand the world. That takes many forms, from investigations on sexual abuse that helped spark the global #MeToo movement; to expert reporting that reveals how technology is reshaping every facet of modern life; to important and hard-hitting cultural commentary, like when we proclaimed “the Aperol spritz is not a good drink.” ... But at a moment when surging nationalism is leading people to retreat inward, one of the most important jobs of The Times is to shine a light outward.
....

Over the last few years, however, something has dramatically changed. Around the globe, a relentless campaign is targeting journalists because of the fundamental role they play in ensuring a free and informed society. To stop journalists from exposing uncomfortable truths and holding power to account, a growing number of governments have engaged in overt, sometimes violent, efforts to discredit their work and intimidate them into silence.

This is a worldwide assault on journalists and journalism. But even more important, it’s an assault on the public’s right to know, on core democratic values, on the concept of truth itself. And perhaps most troubling, the seeds of this campaign were planted right here, in a country that has long prided itself on being the fiercest defender of free expression and a free press. .... The hard work of journalism has long carried risks, especially in countries without democratic safeguards. But what’s different today is that these brutal crackdowns are being passively accepted and perhaps even tacitly encouraged by the president of the United States.
....

The current administration, however, has retreated from our country’s historical role as a defender of the free press. Seeing that, other countries are targeting journalists with a growing sense of impunity. ...This isn’t just a problem for reporters; it’s a problem for everyone, because this is how authoritarian leaders bury critical information, hide corruption, even justify genocide. As Senator John McCain once warned, “When you look at history, the first thing that dictators do is shut down the press.”

To give you a sense of what this retreat looks like on the ground, let me tell you a story I’ve never shared publicly before. Two years ago, we got a call from a United States government official warning us of the imminent arrest of a New York Times reporter based in Egypt named Declan Walsh. Though the news was alarming, the call was actually fairly standard. Over the years, we’ve received countless such warnings from American diplomats, military leaders and national security officials.

But this particular call took a surprising and distressing turn. We learned the official was passing along this warning without the knowledge or permission of the Trump administration. Rather than trying to stop the Egyptian government or assist the reporter, the official believed, the Trump administration intended to sit on the information and let the arrest be carried out. The official feared being punished for even alerting us to the danger.
....

The true power of a free press is an informed, engaged citizenry. I believe in independent journalism and want it to thrive. I believe in this country and its values, and I want us to live up to them and offer them as a model for a freer and more just world.

The United States has done more than any other country to popularize the idea of free expression and to champion the rights of the free press. The time has come for us to fight for those ideals again.

A. G. Sulzberger is the publisher of The New York Times.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: [e-mail].

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. The suffering is the point. Abuse of power. Against a part of the press he sees as a foe.

Nixon never did anything like this.

Maybe tRump pushed the Egyptians to arrest the guy.

He wanted to get the Egyptians to do what he didn't dare do here but desperately wished for against the the object of his hatred, the press especially the New York Times.

Never has so much hatred been contained by one American.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

24. The incident occurred in August 2017 after @NYTmag published my story about Giulio Regeni

The incident occurred in August 2017 after @NYTmag published my story about Giulio Regeni, an Italian student found dead in Cairo. Italy accuses Egypt of involvement, and Egypt denies. It's a sensitive issue.

Link to tweet

[IronLionZion]

27. The Giulio Regeni story is despicable

[Kid Berwyn]

28. Protect and Defend the Constitution of the United States.

That includes the First Amendment.

[kwolf68]

31. This is disgusting

Trump as a human being is unacceptable.

[Blue_Tires]

32. Greenwald and Snowden were unavailable for comment