What is a free press and why aren't the #FakeNews part of it?

The intent of the Constitution was to ensure that news sources can't be censored or controlled by the government.

The idea was that in order for citizens to vote intelligently they have to know what's going on.  That's impossible if the government can silence any voice that criticizes the government.

Due to the human condition preventing government censorship means evil people and stupid people will still be able to generate news that is bogus but the Founders considered that to be a price to be paid to ensure that the press could speak truth to power.

Our modern #FakeNews media outlets--WaPo, NYT, LA Times, ABC, CBS,NBC, MSNBC, CNN, etc--however are effectively trying to do an end run around the First Amendment.

By constantly either lying about stories or hiding information that disagrees with the objectives of the Democrat party they're effectively deluding many Americans just as much as if the government censored the news.

Does it really matter if people aren't aware of the truth because the Government censors it or because the #FakeNews media won't report it?

When Trump attacks the #FakeNews media he's attacking those outlets which prioritize their ideological agenda over the truth.  He's not saying that the government should censor even the odious CNN but that people shouldn't trust certain news sources.

That message is no different in nature than the one the Democrats have been saying for years about Fox and Rush. Of course the Democrat claims are false and Trump's are true but in both cases people are upset about what some news outlets are reporting. The big difference is what Trump and the Democrats do to "fix" the problem. Trump just tells folks to not listen to the liars but the Democrats have tried to silence the voices they don't like.

They've tried to get the "Fairness" doctrine into law. It would require radio stations to run an hour of a leftist talk show host for every hour of a conservative talk show host that they run; that would effectively put radio stations out of the political talk business which would be a  victory for the left since there are no left wing talk show hosts with much of a following.

The bottom line is this; Trump criticizing the #FakeNews media for lying to the people is not an assault on the free press anymore than Radio Free Europe was attacking the free press when it broadcast the truth into Eastern Europe when the Soviets controlled the area.

Trump isn't calling for censorship but Democrats are. They support the censoring of conservative voices on Twitter Facebook etc.

The real threat to the people knowing what they need to vote isn't Trump; it's the #FakeNews media.