Asking Questions the Powerful Don't Like

Why the attacks on the press are getting louder — and why they matter

A free press doesn’t work for the president. Reporters don’t answer to politicians. Their job is to ask the questions the powerful don’t want asked. That’s the point. That’s the whole system.

And right now, that system is under attack from two sides — political and corporate — while the loudest voice going after journalists is getting worse.

Trump’s hostility isn’t new. But it’s escalating.

Calling a reporter “piggy” is childish, but it’s not harmless. It’s meant to belittle, shame, and warn others not to ask the next tough question. And it fits a pattern that’s been building for years, especially with female reporters.

Trump has spent his political career attacking journalists by name. He mocks them, insults them, bans them from events, and encourages crowds to boo them. He tells supporters that reporters are “the enemy.” This isn’t a side show. It’s part of his politics.

And it goes deeper.

He defended the Saudi government after it murdered Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, calling their excuses “credible.” No outrage. No accountability. Just a shrug at the killing of a reporter who dared to criticize a regime he preferred to stay friendly with.

In the Oval Office, he berated and insulted a reporter for asking the Crown Prince about it, later saying, “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Things happen. Like accidentally running into a bone saw. Happens every day. Oops.

He regularly praises strongmen who jail or kill journalists. He admires the way they hold onto power. He insults reporters who simply ask what any president should be able to answer. And he’s getting louder about it.

This isn’t normal. And pretending it is only helps it spread.

The corporate squeeze is the quieter threat — but just as dangerous.

While Trump bludgeons the press with a sledgehammer, corporate America cuts it to death with a thousand tiny scalpels.

Local newsrooms are gutted by hedge funds and mega-mergers. Reporters are laid off in waves. Beats disappear. Watchdogs vanish. The news that survives is thinner, safer, and easier to ignore.

And here’s the quiet truth: owning a media outlet is a great way to bury a story you don’t want the public to see.

What kinds of stories get buried?

• Environmental violations that might cost a corporation millions

• Unsafe products

• Exploitation of workers

• Political donations that raise awkward questions

• Abusive executives

• Union busting

Big companies don’t buy news outlets because they love journalism. They buy them because controlling information is power.

And when you combine corporate consolidation with political hostility, you get a press that’s squeezed from both ends — bullied publicly, weakened internally. And when those media companies bend the knee to someone as hostile to the free press as Trump is, it’s a sign the free press may not be long in our company.

History shows what happens when the press is silenced.

This isn’t the first time powerful people have tried to shut up reporters.

The Sedition Act of 1798
Newspapers criticized President John Adams. The government responded by jailing editors. Even the Founders got a crash course in what happens when leaders can’t take criticism.

McCarthyism
Reporters who questioned the witch hunts were blacklisted or smeared. Fear kept many quiet, and it took years to undo the damage.

COINTELPRO
The FBI spied on and harassed journalists covering civil rights, antiwar movements, and government misconduct.

The Pentagon Papers
The Nixon administration tried to block publication of leaked documents showing how presidents misled the public about Vietnam. The Supreme Court said no.

Every one of these moments carries the same warning: when the powerful can stop uncomfortable stories from being told, they will.

The Founders warned us about this centuries ago.

They understood one basic truth: the government will always be tempted to silence whoever challenges it.

Jefferson: “Were it left to me whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

Madison: “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

Franklin: “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”

They didn’t trust power. They trusted sunlight.

The present danger

Put it together:

• A president who lashes out at reporters for asking questions

• A political movement that cheers those attacks

• Corporations buying newsrooms and hollowing them out

• Fewer local watchdogs

• More disinformation

• Less accountability

• A public left in the dark

• An inability to find agreement on basic truth

A president calling reporters “piggy” may seem petty. But it’s part of something bigger — a worldview that treats journalists as enemies and questions as insults.

A free press doesn’t work for the president. It works for the people.

And when leaders fear questions, that’s the surest sign the questions matter.