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Jeff Bezos: Trump shouldn’t try to ‘chill the media’

by Jesse Byrnes - 06/01/16 10:10 AM ET

The Washington Post owner says Trump “should embrace” freedom of speech.

Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos late Tuesday pushed back against presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s attacks on the media, calling them inappropriate.

Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, said at the Code Conference in California it is inappropriate that Trump “is working to freeze or chill the media that are examining him.”

{mosads}”It’s just a fact that we live in a world where half the population on this planet, if you criticize your leader, there’s a good chance you’ll go to jail or worse,” Bezos said in response to an audience member’s question.

Bezos’s comments came on the day that Trump escalated his feud with members of the media, calling a television reporter a “sleaze” and sarcastically calling another male TV newsman “a beauty.”

Trump ripped political reporters as “dishonest” during the news conference, as he was peppered with questions on why it took four months to detail where the money he raised for veterans groups went.

“Donald Trump misunderstands—or, more likely, simply opposes–the role a free press plays in a democratic society,” Thomas Burr, president of the National Press Club, said in a statement responding to Trump.

“Reporters are supposed to hold public figures accountable. Any American political candidate who attacks the press for doing its job is campaigning in the wrong country,” he added.

Bezos, the tech giant with whom Trump has feuded and accused of anti-trust issues, echoed that sentiment while speaking out on the importance of a free press.

“We live in this amazing democracy with amazing freedom of speech. And a presidential candidate should embrace that,” Bezos said.

“They should say, ‘I’m running for president of the most important country of the world. I expect to be scrutinized. Please examine me.’ That’s a very important cultural norm.

“Without the cultural norms, the Constitution is just a piece of paper,” Bezos added.

Tags 2016 presidential election Donald Trump Freedom of speech