With US President Donald Trump returning to the White House, fears of renewed infringements on media freedom in the United States have grown. During his first term, Trump frequently criticized the “fake news” media, pressed journalists to reveal confidential sources, and threatened to retaliate against critical journalists. He amplified similar attacks as a candidate last year and ahead of his return to power after winning the election in November, suing many media sites, advocating for violence against journalists, and even threatening to cancel broadcast licenses. The experiences of other backsliding democracies demonstrate that a second Trump presidency poses significant challenges to media freedom in the United States. The most extreme cases experienced in other nations, such as mass arrests of journalists in Turkey near-total takeover of private and public media channels in Hungary, remain unlikely in the United States, as the country benefits from a large, diverse media landscape and strong protections of freedom of speech. Yet even vibrant and pluralistic media sectors can erode under pressure and become less effective at overseeing those in power, with negative implications for the health of U.S. democracy.

Chilling Effects In most countries, initial attacks on media freedom did not pose a danger to the sector’s overall independence. Instead, governments attacked critical journalists or media outlets with public shaming, frivolous litigation, and new barriers to entry. These attempts foster an a

tmosphere of intimidation, erode the confidence of independent journalism, and make great reporting more difficult.