From PhilPapers forum Normative Ethics:

2016-06-17
Freedom of Speech
Denk, Trump and the Free Press
Denk (Think) is a political party created by (Dutch-Turkish) dissidents of the traditional labor party. They started last a campaign where they critically analyzed the role of the media and warned their sympathizers of future actions of the same press against Denk Leaders. And Lo and Behold, the dutch press made the self-fulfilling prophecy come true and journalists of all persuasions are falling over themselves to attack Denk.
Trump criticized the Washington Posts' coverage of his comments on the Orlando Tragedy, and especially on his comments on Obama himself.
Here again, the question was asked: what can we do to prevent such attacks on the free press?
And then I wonder. Should we do something?
Modern history shows us that the press has always served the dominating class and has never contributed to any change of regime. The fact that in democracy the press is free has led to a very peculiar change of perspective, one which journalists have been all too eager to embrace. They are convinced, and have convinced everybody else that they are the last bastion of democracy, right next to the armed forces of the free world.
What should be obvious to everybody watching the news (do people still read them?) is that it only takes a small dictator to muzzle the press and have it work for him and his clique. Before you know it, the same journalists who were posing themselves as the champions of liberty are writing supportive articles of the Powers That Be, or at least avoiding risky issues altogether. After all, they are only humans, and they have their mortgage or their rent to pay, spouses and kids to keep happy. 
That reminds me somehow of Egyptian judges, as corrupt as their colleagues in some countries, suddenly called to judge their ex-president  Mubarak which had kept them in office for decades.
Does that mean that the concept of a free press is an illusion? I would not go that far. In fact I would go as far as to say that a press is as free as the society in which it functions. But what the press cannot do is guarantee democracy, for the simple reason that it is society that guarantees freedom of the press.
That does not mean of course that the press should take it lying down. Just that it should not be so arrogant as to think that an attack on the free press is an attack on democracy. That would be putting journalists on a pedestal, something that they certainly do not deserve as a rule. Ask the victims of American or Russian bombs what they think of the fact that foreign journalists are free to say what they want. The same could be said of course of all victims, of any attack, as in Orlando.

Attacks on the free press should worry any real democrat, because it is usually not an isolated sign, but a symptom that something is going really wrong with a political system.
As someone who has lived under an authoritarian regime, and a western democracy, I must admit that I had very high regards for western journalists. It did not take long for me to realize that they are only people with a job. Some of them consider is as a vocation and try their damnedest to hold on to their ideals. For the great majority, it is just a way to pay the bills. Like for everybody else. And who can blame them. But please, do not let them convince you that they are a kind of divine messengers. They are not. And (verbal) attacks on journalists can be very beneficial to democracy. No one should be above criticism.