BRIAN STELTER (HOST): What do you think is the broader lesson about what happened to you, about this kind of physical incident?
BEN JACOBS: Well I think the broader lesson is not just about what happened to me, it's what's happening to journalists all over the country right now. That there's a growing atmosphere of hate and disdain toward journalists, and that my situation is certainly an aberration. But when you think about the threats that journalists are facing every day just for doing their jobs in the United States of America, that's what raises the real concern.
STELTER: Politicians, other public officials, are also experiencing threats. I don't want to minimize that. But since we're on a program about media, talking specifically about journalists experiencing harassment and threats, Kirsten, do you agree that there's a growing amount of this, that there's more and more hate than there used to be?
KIRSTEN POWERS: There's no question. Certainly, there's been a noticeable uptick in the kinds of harassment or, you know, attacks online now, I’d say, since Donald Trump basically came on the scene. It's gotten worse since he's been president, and I think in particular, or for anybody who works at an outlet that has been in his crosshairs has experienced it more. I mean, there's just no comparison. I have never had anybody threaten to or actually post my address, for example, until now. And I have been doing this for quite some time. I have gotten a lot of hate mail, I have had a lot of people upset with a lot of things that I have said, but I have never had people saying, “I'm going to find out your parents' address, I'm going to harass your family,” the kinds of things that are happening to other reporters. So something is definitely very different.
