Will the Press Remain Independent?

I notice that Trump's definition of "fake news" is 'Anything that makes me look bad'. For him, the only legitimate news is a story that presents him in a favorable light. There is no room for critique, criticism, and in some cases, verifiable fact.

On the campaign trail, he refused to give press passes to journalists who reported stories he didn't like; he's ditched his press pool on several occasions; he refused to answer a journalist's question during a press conference, citing a story that ran days earlier.

Would this have been acceptable if Obama did it?

Would it have been acceptable for Obama to censure media who had printed negative stories about him? To refuse to answer questions from a media outlet because of a story they ran two days earlier?

Of course not.

In which case, if it would be unacceptable for Obama, why should it be acceptable for Trump?

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Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press.

So watch for abridgement to come in the form of an executive order or some other Executive Branch mechanism that does not require congressional approval.

And if Congress is willing to entertain a law that effectively abridges the freedom of the press, our country should probably get a new name. The First Amendment to the Constitution is rebar in the foundation of the United States – to countermand it is to begin to transform the country into something entirely new.