For the press heading into a second Trump administration, there’s a balancing act between being prepared and being fearful.

The return to power of Donald Trump, who has called journalists enemies and talked about retribution against those he feels have wronged him, has news executives nervous. Perceived threats are numerous: lawsuits of every sort, efforts to unmask anonymous sources, physical danger and intimidation, attacks on public media and libel protections, day-to-day demonization.

In a closely-watched case settled over the weekend, ABC chose to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by the president-elect over an inaccurate statement made by George Stephanopoulos by agreeing to pay $15 million toward Trump’s presidential library.

“The news media is heading into this next administration with its eyes open,” said Bruce Brown, executive director of the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press.

“Some challenges to the free press may be overt, some may be more subtle,” Brown said. “We’ll need to be prepared for rapid response as well as long campaigns to protect our rights — and to remember that our most important audiences are the courts and the public.”

One prominent editor warned against going on war footing with an administration that hasn’t taken office yet. “There may be a moment to cry wolf here,” said Stephen Engelberg, editor-in-chief of the nonprofit news outlet ProPublica. “But I don’t think we’ve reached it.”

At a news conference on Monday, Trump said that “we need a fair media” and discussed some potential and ongoing legal cases he has against news outlets.

“We have to straighten out the press,” Trump said. “Our press is very corrupt, almost as corrupt as our elections.”

News organizations are heading into the second Trump era weak both financially and in public esteem. To a large extent, Trump sidestepped legacy media outlets during his campaign in favor of podcasters, yet still had time for specific beefs against ABC, CBS and NBC.

The Trump team........

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