Staff at Capital Gazette thanks public for its support after mass murder, then takes dig at Trump

Following an unimaginable tragedy on Thursday that left five people dead, the Capital Gazette newspaper showed its journalistic valor by publishing an edition the day after a gunman stormed on their offices in Annapolis, Maryland.

The attack killed four journalists and a sales assistant. The suspect was later identified as a man who "had obsessively harassed and threatened the publication’s journalists for years."

On Sunday, the staff of the paper wrote an open letter to the public that was both heartfelt and defiant. They thanked their surrounding community for its outpouring of love and support, and rebuked the “death threats and emails from people we don’t know celebrating our loss, or the people who called for one of our reporters to get fired because she got angry and cursed on national television after witnessing her friends getting shot.”

The many cards, letters, emails, flowers, food, text messages and signs served as “a balm to our wounds,” the staff wrote. In another show of support, 800 people subscribed to the Gazette’s website.

What else did the letter say?

At a more subtle level, the letter took on another tone. It became an opportunity to take a swipe at President Donald Trump for his nearly nonstop criticism of the mainstream media at large.

“We won’t forget being called an enemy of the people,” the open letter to the public reads. Yet it stops short of calling out Trump by name.

Generally, Trump's media-bashing is reserved for national outlets he accuses of embellishing or producing “fake news,” to advance a certain agenda.

A headline on CNN’s website, for example, read: “After meeting with North Korean dictator, Trump calls press America's 'biggest enemy.'”

Trump and the national media have added to the constant back and forth. But in light of the tragedy, the president appeared to extend a message of peace.

“Journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their jobs,” Trump said at a White House event following the mass murder at the paper. “To the families of the victims there are no words to express our sorrow for your loss. Horrible, horrible event. Horrible thing happened.”