President Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on US media increase the risk of violence against journalists and violate press freedoms and international human rights law.

“We are especially concerned that these attacks increase the risk of journalists being targeted with violence,” two UN human rights experts said in a statement today.

“These attacks run counter to the country’s obligations to respect press freedom and international human rights law,” said David Kaye and Edison Lanza, the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of expression for the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, respectively.

They urged the Trump administration “to stop pursuing whistle-blowers through the tool of the Espionage Act, which provides no basis for a person to make an argument about the public interest of such information.”

They especially urged the press to continue “its efforts to hold all public officials accountable,” saying that community of American journalists and publishers and broadcasters had long been among the strongest examples of professional journalism worldwide.

“Two years of attacks on the press could have long term negative implications for the public’s trust in media and public institutions,” they noted.

“Two years is two years too much, and we strongly urge that President Trump and his administration, and his supporters end these attacks.”

“His attacks are strategic, designed to undermine confidence in reporting and raise doubts about verifiable facts,” they warned.

Trump has regularly labelled the media as being the “enemy of the American people” “very dishonest” or “fake news,” and accused the press of “distorting democracy” or spreading “conspiracy theories and blind hatred”.

“Each time the President calls the media ‘the enemy of the people’ or fails to allow questions from reporters from disfavored outlets, he suggests nefarious motivations or animus.” But he has failed to show even once that specific reporting has been driven by any untoward motivations.

Over the course of his presidency, Trump and others within his administration have sought to undermine reporting that had uncovered waste, fraud, abuse, potential illegal conduct, and disinformation.

Instead, the Trump administration should promote the role of a vibrant press and counter rampant disinformation. “To this end, we urge President Trump not only to stop using his platform to denigrate the media but to condemn these attacks, including threats directed at the press at his own rallies.”

The attacks on the media go beyond Trump’s language. “We also urge his entire administration, including the Department of Justice, to avoid pursuing legal cases against journalists in an effort to identify confidential sources, an effort that undermines the independence of the media and the ability of the public to have access to information.”