In “First They Came for Fox News,” Claudia Rosett remarks “how dangerous it is when the President of the United States gives his staff and advisers a green light to single out and denigrate by name a specific news organization,” namely, Fox, which has had the gall to expose and criticize Obama’s radical left-wing agenda.

In particular, Rosett singles out the television networks and major newspapers for failing to speak out against the president’s vendetta, declaring “They could be next.”

Not surprisingly, there’s been nary a peep about this outrage against free speech from the academy. Schools of journalism, above all, should be screaming bloody murder, for they too — given the twists and turns of radicalism — could be next.

The academy should be echoing Rosett’s message:

The matter of deciding whether a news outlet has “a perspective” — and many do — is something that in a free country, if the country is to remain free, should be left to the private customer …
Government personnel getting into this act is altogether different. These are people paid out of the public purse, and speaking under the imprimatur of public institutions — in this case the White House. Here they are, urging White House-favored news outfits to follow the White House lead, and ostracize a specific news outlet the White House doesn’t like. This is Banana Republic stuff, a stock tactic of pressure and intimidation. The effect of such stuff, as a rule, is not to promote accurate news coverage, but to cover up stories the government doesn’t want aired, and shut up critics.