The press survived Obama's persecution, and it will survive Trump's mean words

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But is a sitting president's criticism of the the press really a threat to the First Amendment when access and the ability to report has actually improved?

White House press briefings are actually more open than ever before. Reporters outside the DC bubble are brought in over Skype. Press passes have been given to non-traditional conservative outlets. That could help to balance the White House press corps (a little bit), considering a recent survey's finding that only three of 63 members are registered Republicans. ...

Regardless, we still see many members of a defiant, petulant media still actually believing they're victims of the Meanie-in-Chief. And in the process, they have been equally as thin-skinned as the president and allowed their emotions to dictate how they do their jobs. (See: not objectively.)

Actions always speak louder than words in these situations. And while Trump's attacks on the media are arguably beneath the presidency, that's who he is and one of the reasons he got elected.

Gallup's most recent survey on media trust showed that 86 percent of Republicans don't trust the media. O.K., that's expected these days.

But when 70 percent of independents feels the same way, we've got a problem. Even about half of Democrats (49 percent) don't trust what they're reading and hearing.

Trump knows this. And one could even make the argument that traditional political media is more loathed by his base than political opponents Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi or Elizabeth Warren ever could be.

Truth is, it was the actions of the Obama administration that should have been viewed as a threat to the First Amendment.

Of course, President Obama was friendly, affable and lined up ideologically with most reporters, so they found it difficult to get too emotional when he stomped on press freedom. There were several egregious examples.

* The Obama administration's Justice Department spied on Fox News reporter James Rosen. The DOJ, led by Eric Holder, somehow labeled Rosen an unindicted co-conspirator in a criminal case, even went so far as to call him a flight risk. He thereby avoided the pesky need to inform him he was under surveillance. Of course, he was guilty of absolutely nothing. Holder would much later acknowledge regret over the Rosen subpoena. Thanks for playing.

* The same DOJ seized two months of phone records from the Associated Press. Close your eyes for a moment and picture the reaction if Attorney General Jeff Sessions had been found to order the same action against the New York Times. If anything but the apocalypse comes to mind, you're in a small minority.

* The Obama administration rejected more Freedom of Information Act requests than any administration in history. That was after Obama promised the "most transparent" administration in history.

New York Times reporter James Risen summed it up well when he called the Obama administration "the most anti-press administration since the Nixon administration.”

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