Recent attacks on the media by President Donald Trump are more than worrisome. They are terrifying. To call journalists “among the most dishonest human beings on Earth,” is disgraceful. Mr. Trump, tell that to the parents of video journalist James Foley, beheaded by Islamic State militants in Syria in 2014, or to reporter Roxana Saberi, imprisoned in Iran for more than 100 days in 2009 on false charges of espionage. Tell that to the families of the more than 2,200 people listed on the Newseum Journalists Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., who all died while doing their jobs. I spent more than 40 years in the journalism world, including 16 as a professor. I predict that young people will apply in record numbers to journalism schools around the country, just like they did after Watergate, seeking the truth instead of the “alternative facts” being offered by our new administration.

Mary Coffman