NYT Publisher Warns of “Most Frontal Attack on the American Press in a Century”
In a striking speech delivered at the University of Notre Dame and later published in the New York Times Opinion section, A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times, declared that American journalism is under the most direct and dangerous assault in over a century.
Calling out the Trump administration’s aggressive anti-press tactics, Sulzberger warned that a combination of legal, political, and cultural strategies are being deployed to undermine the independence and legitimacy of the press in the United States — a cornerstone of American democracy for nearly 250 years.
“A vastly smaller, financially weakened and technologically disintermediated profession now finds itself facing the most direct challenge to its rights and legitimacy, as well,” Sulzberger said. He described the campaign as a multi-pronged effort made up of five interlocking strategies:
Sowing distrust and encouraging harassment of independent journalists and news outlets.
Weaponizing civil courts to intimidate or financially damage reporters and organizations.
Misusing legal and regulatory powers to punish dissenting media voices.
Amplifying attacks by enlisting wealthy and powerful allies to pile onto journalists.
Replacing independent media with government-aligned or propaganda-style outlets.
Sulzberger argued that these tactics not only threaten the First Amendment, but also risk transforming the press into an arm of the state — something antithetical to the American democratic model.
“The strength of the U.S. press lies in its freedom to report independently and critically, regardless of who is in power,” Sulzberger said. “Undermining that freedom strikes at the very heart of democracy.”
His remarks come amid rising global concerns about press freedom, with watchdog groups noting similar patterns in other democracies. Sulzberger’s warning signals that these challenges are no longer abstract or distant — but urgent and domestic.
In an era when public trust in journalism is already fragile, the address serves as both a clarion call and a cautionary tale: Democracy cannot survive without a free press — and that freedom is no longer guaranteed.
