Melissa Chan is a national and foreign affairs reporter with Al Jazeera. She worked as a broadcast correspondent for Al Jazeera America.
Chan also reported from Cuba, Canada, South Korea, North Korea, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Mongolia, Moscow, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Gaza. With Al Jazeera English, Chan served as China correspondent for five years before her expulsion from the authoritarian country in 2012 amidst backlash over the channel's reports.
That expulsion from China and revocation of her press credentials led Chan to share her experience on Twitter in the wake of the Trump White House expelling CNN correspondent Jim Acosta. Chan shared that China did the same thing with her in 2012.
In a country with a constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press, government attempts to silence certain reporters the President does not like—Trump's own words from his press conference that resulted in Acosta's expulsion—and references to the press as the "enemy of the people" by the leader of that country seem incongruous.
Chan continued with her story of her time living in an authoritarian country where freedom of the press is not the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Chan concluded with advice for other White House press corps members.
Her words and first hand experience with an authoritarian government's handling of the press resonated with people.
Others felt the Trump administration's relationship with the press does not conform with the vision the constitution and First Amendment held.
Others with firsthand experience with dictators chimed in as well.
People also likened the President to a narcissist.
On Thursday afternoon, after drawing criticism over sharing an altered video of Jim Acosta to justify his press access revocation, Sarah Huckabee Sanders stated the White House stood behind their decision.
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