New York Times newsroom lawyer David McCraw has emerged as a prominent defender of press freedom as the newspaper fights government restrictions, subpoenas and lawsuits, including a $15 billion defamation case brought by President Trump. Brier Dudley, Seattle Times Free Press editor, spoke to him about the state of free press in the U.S. McCraw said that while laws still exist to protect press freedom, trust in the media has significantly changed.

“They don’t have to love what we do. But having them believe in the value of it, I think, has been under constant attack over a period of time, whether that’s being accused of treason, being labelled as fake news, being labelled as an enemy of the people. All of that comes to erode the trust, the belief, in a system where an independent press has value,” he said.

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