This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

On July 5, The New York Times published an article with a very concerning passage. "White House advisers have discussed a potential point of leverage over [CNN], a senior administration official said: a pending merger between CNN's parent company, Time Warner, and AT&T. Mr. Trump's Justice Department will decide whether to approve the merger, and while analysts say there is little to stop the deal from moving forward, the president's animus toward CNN remains a wild card."

The implications of this are frightening regardless of the details of the merger itself. We have a sitting president of the United States who is threatening to harm a news organization financially unless he receives more positive coverage.

A free press is essential to a functioning democracy and needs to be protected. When the inner workings of our government and elected officials are not exposed to the public, corruption thrives and the possibility of descending into an autocracy where a single entity controls all of the power of government becomes more likely.

President Trump's disdain for the press at large isn't new. On the campaign trail he would regularly give speeches about how he wanted to "open our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money." He later began to label storied news organizations like The New York Times, The Washington Post or CNN as "Fake News" to discredit them to his supporters. After assuming office, he sent Sean Spicer to lie on his behalf to the White House press corps. He elevated pro-Trump media with no journalistic integrity like Brietbart and Info Wars while refusing to answer questions from legitimate news organizations he had personally labeled as fake news. Now he is threatening financial retribution against those that aren't kind to him. We as citizens can not stand for this.

Our nation's laws do not need to be changed in order to hinder a free press. Financial coercion like holding a merger hostage or the threat of cutting off future access to the White House make it more difficult for the press to fulfill their public duty.

The death of a free press can happen slowly and be imperceptible in the process. Ultimately, it won't matter why access to the truth vanishes, the only thing that will matter is that it vanished.

I made the mistake of reading George Orwell's "1984" two days before the November election. The element of the totalitarian regime described in the book that really stood out to me was the power frequent, bald-faced lies can have on the governed. Even when the people are fully aware they are being lied to, the constant flurry of lies makes it hard to pin down the truth. When the truth dies, it makes it impossible for the citizenry to assemble and resist.

We don't currently live in a society that has public book burnings or makes dissenters disappear in the dark of night, but the executive branch is currently pursuing an Orwellian approach to the media. At what point does Trump claim that "We have always been at war with Eastasia" in a State of the Union address?

The worst part of all of this is witnessing the checks-and-balances setup in the Constitution failing to protect us. Where are the members of Congress standing up to push back against this assault on our freedoms? Where are Sens. Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee? Where are Reps. Rob Bishop, Chris Stewart and Mia Love? Their silence on the assault of one of the freedoms established in the First Amendment of our Constitution is absolutely deafening.

Thomas Jefferson once wrote, "Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." These words are still applicable today. We should do everything in our power to protect and enable a free press or we will lose the many other freedoms we currently enjoy.

Tom Taylor is a Democrat running as a candidate for Utah's 4th Congressional District. After defending his Ph.D. dissertation in robotics engineering at the University of Utah, he worked as a consultant for technology startups in Salt Lake City.