The media is not the enemy, despite what Trump and the state of New Jersey says

In the recent presidential election — remember that? — the media was made out to be the enemy by then-candidate Donald Trump. Since he’s become president, it hasn’t stopped.

In fact, back in February, Trump tweeted out that the press is the “enemy of the American people.”

Many people in America kinda-sorta agree with Trump. Trust in the media was down to 32 percent, according to a Gallup poll in 2016. Well, I think that’s a bunch of crap. You know what most journalists want? To shine a light on the truth, and oftentimes, that light is harsh and flies in the face of government types. Which is why so many government types loathe us.

It’s certainly happened to me. One memorable time I was screamed at over the phone — I’m talking fullthroated, from the gut, spittle-flying scream — by a local politician. Why? Because I was going to write a story about gangs in Trenton. This was years ago, and at the time, government types poo-poo’d the the idea that gangs were in the city. They didn’t exist here, that’s what officials said, that’s certainly what the local chambers of commerce said. But police on the streets? They told me a different story. They told me Trenton was about to explode with gang activity. Let history tell you who was in the right there. But imagine a different world, a world Trump would probably prefer, a world where the government has the ability to shut up the media. Imagine a world like that, where a free press doesn’t exist, where the government runs unchecked, spreading whatever information (and disinformation) it pleases. Is that really a world you’d like to live in? If so, I hear Vladivostok is nice this time of year.

Or, if Vladivostok is too chilly, perhaps then New Jersey.

Because that’s exactly what New Jersey government types tried to do. They tried to shut down the free press. They tried to impose their will, demand a newspaper stop printing the truth, demand that newspaper stop, cease, and desist. Well, they lost. If you’ve been following the case in the pages of this very paper, then you know the story. If you don’t, here’s the quick recap: A Trenton 5-year-old brought drugs to school. Twice. A child custody case, which was already happening, blew up. Our reporter, Isaac Avilucea, was given the child custody complaint by the mother of the child. The state filed an injunction as we were readying the story. We ran a story, but we had to strip out details that came solely from the complaint. Some info from the complaint was in the story, but because we had been told that from interviews with the mother and the grandmother.

Understand that last sentence: Avilucea got the doc from the family, wrote about it what the family told him, and the state jumps in and says we were not allowed to write about it. This is First Amendment stuff right here. Like, A-1, Page 1, Paragraph 1, Word 1, First Amendment stuff.

Long story short, Avilucea and The Trentonian won the case last week. The state is still appealing, which is shameful. In the meantime, the paper is out who knows how much money in legal fees and who knows how much damage this has done to Avilucea, who is battling cancer. (By the way: He better get better. This paper suffers without him. He makes the high and mighty quake. He’s a light-shiner of the highest order.)

Is the media perfect? No. Nor is anything else in this world. But I’ve been in this business for nearly 20 years. I’ve been in newspapers, magazines, radio, and television. I see the people who work to tell the truth, and I promise you, the only ax they have to grind is with liars, cheaters, and bad guys. The press is not the enemy, of this I am sure.