Pretty much. There's been a tendency among reactionary sorts to attack any piece they don't like by saying the writer is "just a journalist", ignoring the actual piece, and ignoring any credentials that the author has, like in this case, the writer of the piece is an Associate Professor at the University of Miami.

There are plenty of people that dislike a free press.

I would actually say the opposite. We're getting better. In the 80s and 90s campaigns would do all sorts of crazy contortions to prevent getting caught in"gaffes", whereas today politicians just flood the zone with so much content that a misfire won't damage you.

Think back to the 80s when Dukakis, in attempt to seem more hawkish to the media, did a tank photo-op that ultimately had the opposite effect[1]. I can't think of anything in modern history that's had a similar impact.

Or look at Donald Trump, a candidate who never really cared about what the mainstream media had to say about him, and was openly hostile towards it. He was able to defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016, albeit by some narrow margins in certain states.

[1] https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/11/dukakis-and-...