US Representative Nancy Pelosi attends the pre-Grammy gala, in Beverly Hills, California, on 31 January. ario Anzuoni/ReutersUS Representative Nancy Pelosi attends the pre-Grammy gala, in Beverly Hills, California, on 31 January. ario Anzuoni/ReutersNancy Pelosi warns press freedom is ‘under siege’ after arrest of journalist Ex-House speaker says at dinner ‘facts are challenged, truth is distorted and press is treated as enemy’ by those in powerThe Democratic former speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, said on Wednesday that press freedom is “under siege” in the United States after the Trump administration arrested a prominent journalist and searched the home of another. The warning from Pelosi comes on the same day that the Washington Post, which is owned by Jeff Bezos, the Amazon billionaire who has recently sought to curry favor with Donald Trump, conducted mass layoffs of its reporters and editors worldwide.“Let’s make no mistake: we are living in a time when the first amendment is under siege here at home,” she said at an annual dinner for reporters covering Congress convened by the Washington Press Club.“Facts are challenged, truth is distorted, and the press is treated by those in power as an enemy, fake news, rather than vital partner.”Pelosi called the arrest last month of former CNN anchor Don Lemon as well as the search of Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s home, in which the FBI seized several electronic devices, “an affront to press freedom meant to scare, chill and silence.”“But amid that political intimidation, we must also reckon with an ongoing and accompanying threat,” the former speaker continued.“Just today, we saw painful layoffs at the Washington Post – part of a broader reprehensible pattern in which corporate decisions are hollowing out newsrooms across the country.”Around one third of the Post’s staff were laid off Wednesday, despite public pleas from journalists to preserve their jobs.
