Could American journalists end up in cages under a President Trump? That's the fear CNN's Christiane Amanpour expressed in an interview Saturday morning on NPR.
Speaking with Scott Simon on "Morning Edition," Amanpour said she's taking a stand for her "tribe," having seen what happens under tyrannies in Egypt and Russia to journalists critical of the ruling government.
Here's the transcript:
SIMON: “You spoke about your concerns for press freedom around the world, but you said also for the first time you’re worried about the United States. Why?”
AMANPOUR: “You’re absolutely right. I said never in a million years could I have imagined myself on this stage in New York really appealing for the safety and the freedom of the American press. And I base that on, obviously, Donald Trump’s rhetoric against the press, calling us dishonest, despicable and all sorts of other epithets that were hurled around. And of course when that happens in a highly charged partisan atmosphere and when the press is there just to report objectively on what’s going on and suddenly finds itself the butt of some very angry partisans, it is very dangerous, and it could be threatening to physical safety but also to the rights under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment to report freely and fairly without fear nor favor.”
SIMON: “You’ve covered a lot of tyrannies and interviewed a lot of tyrants, and without stretching an analogy, you see a lot of history here in what you’ve observed around the world.”
AMANPOUR: “You know, Scott, I’m not going to go with that analogy. Obviously, we’re not there yet. But what I did say in my speech was when President-elect Trump - his first tweet after the election was talking about paid protesters incited by the media. Those were the words. Well, first of all, paid protesters is a lie made up by fake news, right? So he might believe it, but that’s because fake news sites put that out, and people sort of picked it up, retweeted and ran with it. So he walked that back after a while. However, he didn’t walk back the idea of incited by the media. And I have covered enough of my colleagues who have ended up, as I put it, in cages in kangaroo courts, in places like Cairo or in Moscow, on trial for being inciters or sympathizers or associates or out and out flat out terrorists. So I feel I have to stand up for my own tribe in the United States.”