While many digital media and local news outlets have suffered since the 2007 financial crisis, legacy media outlets, and particularly The New York Times, have performed well financially.
The Times, which is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, has seen its share price rise more than 180 percent since Trump was elected in November 2016. The company announced earlier this month that its digital revenue surpassed $700 million in 2018 and the company was well on its way to reaching its goal of 10 million digital subscribers by 2025.
Throughout the Trump presidency, the paper has promoted itself through a “The Truth Is Hard” campaign that features ads touting the paper’s critical reporting of the Trump administration as well as regarding Trump’s personal and family financial dealings.
Press freedom advocates worry that Trump’s comments have encouraged autocrats and others who seek to limit free speech.
Those concerns were fueled last year by bomb threats. In December, shortly after the president tweeted that “fake news” was the enemy of the people, CNN’s New York studio was forced to evacuate because of a phoned-in bomb threat. In October, a Florida man, Cesar Sayoc, was arrested on charges he mailed pipe bombs to CNN as well as other prominent critics of the president. Sayoc has pleaded not guilty.
Trump condemned the bomb threats as “terrorizing acts” and said “we must never allow political violence to take root in America.”
“I’m committed to doing everything in my power as President to stop it,” he said at the time.