With New York Times subpoenas, Trump is brazenly escalating his attacks on the press

‘It’s exactly the kind of journalism that press rights, enshrined in the First Amendment, are intended to protect.’ Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

To non-journalists, receiving a government subpoena is a serious thing but probably not a violation of basic rights.

To journalists, it’s quite a different matter – an attack on a foundational right to gather information in the public interest and to provide confidentiality to sources.