Donald Trump has made his disdain for the “dishonest” media plain during the 2016 race, even barring reporters he doesn’t like from his events. His running mate is trying to convince him to take a different tack.
“I have a long history, as you well know, Hugh, of advocating and defending for a free and independent press,” Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Friday.
“I authored legislation in the Congress; we actually got it passed once or twice, to create, you know, the ability to keep confidential sources confidential,” he added.
In 2007, Pence sponsored the Free Flow of Information Act, which protected journalists from having to reveal confidential sources in court. It passed with an overwhelming majority.
Pence suggested that he would try to convince Trump, who has banned individual journalists and entire publications that he deemed “unfair” from covering his campaign rallies, to take a different tack.
“We’re going to have those conversations internally, and I fully expect in the next 100 days, we’re going to continue to be available to the media, whether they’re fair or unfair, and we’re going to take our case to the American people directly,” Pence told Hewitt.
Just this week, a reporter from the Washington Post was banned from and patted down at a Pence event in Wisconsin after security found out where he worked. The Post is one of the organizations the Trump team has banned.
The GOP nominee has also said he would “open up” libel laws as president to make it easier to sue journalists for defamation.
