Trump takes aim at CNN and New York Times over Iran strike coverage, but journalists are shrugging

President Donald Trump s latest crusade against the media has focused on CNN and The New York Times but journalists say they re unfazed despite legal threats from the commander-in-chief Trump who has a decades-long history of litigation that long predates his time in politics has launched major lawsuits in the past year against CBS News ABC News The Des Moines Register and the Pulitzer Prize board while threatening other news organizations and suggesting reporters will be pressured to reveal their sources on stories about the U S strike on Iranian nuclear facilities These days threats from the president have become business as usual for journalists It won t stop us from doing our jobs New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker narrated Fox News Digital TRUMP GOES AFTER CNN NY TIMES FOR FAKE NEWS ABOUT STRIKES ON IRANIAN NUCLEAR FACILITIESTrump repeatedly criticized CNN and The New York Times in up-to-date days for reporting what he called fake news about the U S strike on Iranian nuclear facilities with reports from both outlets suggesting they did not effectively destroy the country s nuclear programs A personal attorney for the president called the Times reporting false defamatory and unpatriotic while threatening legal action He also threatened to sue CNN over its reporting It s not affecting my day at all a CNN journalist notified Fox News Digital While Trump stated Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo that he wants to see people prosecuted for the leak of a classified early U S intelligence assessment used by CNN and the Times Baker believes covering the strike on Iran was critical It s hard to think of anything more central to our journalistic mission than to analysis on the effects of a war involving a nuclear venture Baker added directing Fox News Digital to a letter Times senior vice president David McCraw who serves as the paper s lead newsroom attorney penned last week NEW YORK TIMES ATTORNEY TELLS TRUMP NO APOLOGY COMING FOR COVERAGE OF IRAN STRIKES It s a pretty good summation of our view Baker disclosed McCraw shot down the notion that any apology or retraction is on the horizon and noted that Americans deserve to know whether the attack on Iran was a success We rely on our intelligence services to provide the kind of impartial assessment that we all need in a democracy to judge our country s foreign approach and the quality of our leaders decisions It would be irresponsible for a news organization to suppress that information and deny the citizens the right to hear it McCraw wrote We notified the truth to the best of our ability We will continue to do so Meanwhile Trump scored a triumph in his lawsuit against CBS News late Tuesday night as Paramount Global settled to the tune of million That amount will cover legal fees costs of the matter and contributions to his library or charitable causes to be determined at Trump s discretion There is an expectation that there will be another allocation in the mid-eight figures set aside for advertisements constituents utility announcements or other similar transmissions in promotion of conservative causes by the configuration Fox News Digital has learned CBS CORRESPONDENT SCOTT PELLEY HITS TRUMP FOR SUING JOURNALISTS FOR NOTHING IN FIERY COMMENCEMENT SPEECH Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley previously commented a settlement would be very damaging to CBS to Paramount to the reputation of those companies Other high-profile CBS journalists such as Lesley Stahl were vehemently against a settlement The unanimous view at Minutes is that there should be no settlement and no money paid because the lawsuit is complete bulls--- one veteran Minutes producer informed Fox News Digital last month However Shari Redstone Paramount's controlling shareholder who recused herself from settlement discussions in February made clear that she required to settle Trump's lawsuit in hopes of clearing the pathway for Paramount's multibillion-dollar planned merger with Skydance Media which requirements approval from the Trump administration's FCC Trump also received million from ABC last year to settle a defamation lawsuit brought when its top anchor George Stephanopoulos falsely asserted that he was revealed liable for rape in a civil matter during a contentious interview with Rep Nancy Mace R-S C in March In USA In the modern day investigative reporter Nick Penzenstadler examined what he called Trump s I ll sue you effect The threats can be effective Penzenstadler wrote at the time Even the possibility of a lawsuit by a rich powerful opponent raises the specter of years of expensive and time-consuming litigation ' MINUTES' PRODUCERS RAIL AGAINST TRUMP'S 'BULLS---' LAWSUIT DREAD PROSPECTS OF PARAMOUNT MAKING SETTLEMENTA longtime media industry executive with a history of overseeing newsrooms feels Trump has shown that there s veritably bark to his bite over the past minimal years and it would be wise for news organizations to attempt fairness when covering the administration He will go after these media companies that have never been held accountable before for bias He files the lawsuits in the south where the New York media organizations are at a disadvantage the media executive narrated Fox News Digital ABC and CBS were easy marks because their parent companies had more essential business with Trump than coddling the egos of George Stephanopoulos and Scott Pelley In the incident of the Times and CNN however especially with CNN being spun off these smaller news organizations may be willing to fight harder and longer they continued But they should gear up for a drawn-out ugly battle in a southern courtroom with embarrassing discovery processes and unsympathetic judges and juries The White House did not without delay respond to a request for comment Trump also nodded along on Tuesday as Homeland Precaution Secretary Kristi Noem explained she was working with the Justice Department to see if CNN can be prosecuted for a modern segment about an app that tracks the location of ICE agents CNN has disclosed there is nothing illegal about reporting on the existence of an app CNN has also stood by its reporting on the Iran strike CNN stands by our thorough reporting on an early intelligence assessment of the latest strikes on Iran s nuclear facilities which has since been established by other news organizations The White House has acknowledged the existence of the assessment and their message is included in our story a CNN spokesperson explained Fox News Digital