Fox News’ Trey Yingst Rebukes Trump in Awards Speech: ‘Journalists Are Not the Enemy of the People’

LEFT: Trey Yingst (Photo via Fox News Channel) RIGHT: Donald Trump (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Fox News’ chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst rebuked President Donald Trump after receiving a First Amendment Award at the Radio Television Digital News Association’s (RTDNA) First Amendment Awards on Thursday night.

RTDNA explained its decision to honor Yingst by observing that “As the world endures conflict on multiple continents, Trey Yingst has a remarkable ability to humanize the horror, making it all the more real for an audience an ocean away. He also has been a leader in the industry, advocating for safety and mental health resources for journalists who witness trauma repeatedly to share it with their audiences.”

And in his acceptance speech, Yingst fired a shot across Trump’s bow.

“As an international reporter, I have the great privilege and responsibility to travel the world and tell the stories of others. Over the past several years, my team and I have reported from nearly 20 different countries, most recently from Ukraine. Syria and Israel,” said Yingt. “This evening, I would like to give special recognition to the brave Palestinian journalists in Gaza who have risked, and often given their lives, to practice our craft. We live in a dangerous time of attacks on journalists, of misinformation, and of efforts to silence those who are holding truth to power. Our work is more important now than ever. The First Amendment is more important now than ever.”

Then came the direct response to Trump’s rhetoric about the press:

If you take anything away from my remarks today, let it be this. The people in this room, each one of you, plays a critical role acting as the fourth estate. Capturing the experiences of humans and being a voice for the voiceless. Journalists are not the enemy of the people. Let me say that again. Journalists are not the enemy of the people. Quite the opposite. Journalists are the voice of the people. May you continue to use that voice in a way that is unafraid, unwavering and unflinching.

Trump has long referred to the media as the “enemy of the people.” In a 2017 tweet, Trump wrote The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes,@NBCNews,@ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!” And his use of the phrase continued through the 2024 election cycle.