So RSF tries to get away with "guilt by association" where there is not even any association. How very Stalinist of RSF to attempt that.
“The unleashing of hatred towards journalists is one of the worst threats to democracies,” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “Political leaders who fuel loathing for reporters bear heavy responsibility because they undermine the concept of public debate based on facts instead of propaganda. To dispute the legitimacy of journalism today is to play with extremely dangerous political fire.”
Crocodile tears much? Since when has 'journalism' been about 'facts'? Either Christophe Deloire is intentionally lying or else he is stupidly ignorant. Most 'mainstream journalism' in the US today is in fact propaganda, with ugly lies being substituted for facts, and with lies of omission being particularly rampant. 'They' think that if they do not report it, they can hide it - 'they' got away with it for a long time, but in the Internet age their choke-hold on reporting has been broken.
If reporters don't like being loathed, perhaps they should try reporting truthfully for a change, instead of pushing ugly leftist agendas.
A good example of what you are alluding to. 1998, drudge broke the Monika Lewinsky story. It was well known amongst reporters but it was not reported. Drudge changed all that and when the story was broke it could not be ignored. If it was not for the Internet the Monika story would have been nothing more than a rumor.
Incidentally, I found free republic via a link at drudge.