The author spends much of the article quoting things which are relatively innocuous, then claiming they mean something far more extreme, and far more easy to attack, than the original. A rather disappointing bit of intellectual dishonesty for a 'distinguished professor'.

Academic inquiry is a public good as is the news, done by people as a job as do reporters, and academic freedom supports providing that good as does freedom of the press.

The press tend to get quite angry at attempts to control them, and those who go against the interests of their employers are lauded by their peers. I don't think arguing for academic freedom is any more elitist than arguing for freedom of the press.