ABC News' decision to settle a defamation lawsuit filed by President-elect Donald Trump drew harsh criticism from former New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan Monday.
Writing on her Substack page, Sullivan ripped ABC for agreeing to pay $15 million to Trump's presidential library in exchange for the president-elect dropping his defamation lawsuit against the network.
Among other things, Sullivan predicted that ABC News' settlement with Trump will only encourage him to launch more lawsuits against news organizations who give his administration negative coverage.
"ABC News should never have caved," she contends. "They might well have prevailed if they had hung in there. The legal bar is very high for libeling a public figure, and Trump is the ultimate public figure. Instead, this outcome encourages Trump in his attacks on the press — and he needs no encouragement."
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She then drew a line between ABC's settlement and a warning that Yale historian Tim Snyder gave in his book "On Tyranny" in which he offers lessons for resisting authoritarian governments.
In particular, she pointed to "Rule 1" that commences Snyder's book: “Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”
"Regrettably," comments Sullivan. "That’s what ABC News just did for Trump."
