The specter of a second Trump administration has newsroom executives frightened for secret sources and on-the-ground reporters hoping they don't get killed, according to a new report.
NPR reported Wednesday that former President Donald Trump's threats to jail journalists and control national news outlets has already made work more dangerous for journalists, as detailed a disturbing study replete with alarming anecdotes.
"A hostile crowd quickly surrounded [a freelance journalist] at a Michigan Trump rally," the study stated. "They began shouting threats at her including, 'I hope you’re murdered;' 'I hope you’re dismembered;' and 'I hope someone rapes you before they murder you.'"
A spokesperson for the Republican National Committee responded to NPR's request for comment with a statement of praise for the former president.
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"President Trump was a champion for free speech," the spokesperson said. "Everyone was safer under President Trump, including journalists."
But the International Women's Media Foundation study found 36 percent of hundreds of journalists surveyed say they have faced or been threatened with physical violence on the job — reporting MAGA fans often carry weapons at Trump events.
Meanwhile, Trump has pledged to jail reporters who don't identify confidential sources and joked prison rape would encourage compliance, NPR reported.
"When this person realizes that he is going to be the bride of another prisoner shortly," Trump said at a Texas rally, "he will say, 'I'd very much like to tell you exactly who that was.'"
Multiple former television executives said networks are more concerned about these threats directed at secret sources than Trump's promise to try to take control of broadcast news.
New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger is already preparing for what could happen should Trump reclaim the White House in 2025, NPR reported.
"Protections for the press — could be worn away by either authoritarian leaders or by populist leaders who rally their supporters against independent media," TimesExecutive Editor Joseph Kahn told NPR's Steve Inskeep. "We shouldn't pretend that they're only vulnerable in a place like Hungary or Turkey. ... They are also vulnerable here."
The Michigan freelancer was not the only reporter to tell the International Women's Media Foundation about her vulnerability covering Trump events.
One journalist at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania said he was approached by someone whose shirt raised the specter of lynching with the message, "Journalist. Rope. Tree. Some assembly required."