Trump media attacks could trigger violence says UN human rights chief

According to Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, the attacks by Trump on the media have emboldened other countries to crack down on press freedom.

UN human rights chief Zeid Raad al Hussein, seen here in this file picture from April 5, says President Donald Trumps attack on the media threaten press freedom.
AP

UN human rights chief Zeid Raad al Hussein, seen here in this file picture from April 5, says President Donald Trumps attack on the media threaten press freedom.

The UN human rights chief said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump's relentless attacks on the media could trigger violence against journalists, suggesting the US leader would be responsible. 

Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein voiced particular alarm over Trump's verbal assaults on CNN, the New York Times and Washington Post

"To call these news organisations 'fake' does tremendous damage and to refer to individual journalists in this way, I have to ask the question, is this not an incitement for others to attack journalists?"

"And let's assume a journalist is harmed from one of these organisations, does the president not bear responsibility for this, for having fanned this?" Hussein told reporters in Geneva. 

Incitement against media

"I believe it could amount to incitement," he added, saying Trump had set in motion a cycle that includes "incitement, fear, self-censorship and violence."

There was no immediate response from the White House on the wide-ranging rebuke of Trump's repeated references to the "fake media" and some of his other statements and decisions.

"It's really quite amazing when you think that freedom of the press, not only sort of a cornerstone of the US Constitution but very much something that the United States defended over the years is now itself under attack from the President," the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said.

"It's sort of a stunning turnaround. And ultimately the sequence is a dangerous one," he told a news conference in Geneva.

According to the rights chief, Trump's assault on the media has emboldened other countries to crack down on press freedoms.

"The demonisation of the press is poisonous because it has consequences elsewhere," the Jordanian career diplomat said. 

He expressed specific concern over Trump's speech in Arizona earlier this month in which journalists were condemned by the US leader as "dishonest people" who "don't like our country".

Route 6