Washington Post media columnist calls on Biden to 'repair the damage' Trump has done to 'press freedom'

Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan is calling on President-elect Joe Biden to "repair the damage" she said President Trump has done to "press freedom."

A headline in Sullivan's latest piece on Sunday accuses the sitting president of leaving press freedom "in tatters," pointing to his constant "fake news" and "enemy of the people" attacks toward the media "with ruinous effects both here and overseas."

"Trump’s rhetoric has had frightening real-world consequences," Sullivan wrote. "A record number of journalists around the world were imprisoned over the past four years, some penalized for publishing 'false news' as a result of new laws to punish reporting."

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She accused the Trump administration of "enabling" the Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman's coverup of the murder of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Sullivan suggested that Biden needs to go beyond acting "like a normal president." 

"Now with a new administration coming into power next month, there may be a temptation to shrug off all this damage. To say, in effect, 'Well, that’s over — let’s get back to normal,'" Sullivan wrote. "But that won’t be nearly enough. The culture isn’t going to repair itself just because an outrageous president has left office."

Sullivan spoke with Committee to Protect Journalists executive director Joel Simon, who is urging the incoming Biden administration to "get out there quickly and clearly communicate that it stands for press freedom."

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Simon called on Biden to "make a major press-freedom speech" and to appoint a "high-profile journalist" to a new position he calls the "special presidential envoy for press freedom" who would work in the State Department to promote press freedom around the world. 

News Literacy Project founder Alan Miller similarly spoke with Sullivan about the advice he would give the president-elect: "Bring back the daily press briefings. Make Biden available through periodic news conferences and interviews with a wide range of outlets. Tell the truth.” Sullivan agreed with Miller that Biden should distance itself from the Obama administration's "bad habits of 'opposing the release of public information and cracking down on government leaks.'”

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The Post columnist shrugged off the praise Biden received from CNN for his performance during a recent interview, saying "Trump has set such a low bar that anything approaching normal may look pretty good."

"With so much damage done, in the United States and around the world, there needs to be a much more affirmative approach. There’s a great opportunity here. Biden should raise that low bar. Raise it high," Sullivan concluded.