LOS ANGELES – Hundreds of US newspapers have hit back hard against thePresident Donald Trump.

Newspapers came out in defence of press freedom and a rebuke of PresidentDonald Trump for denouncing some media organisations as enemies of theAmerican people.

The Boston Globe and the New York Times took part along with more than 350other newspapers of all sizes, including some in states that Trump wonduring the 2016 presidential election.

The Globe said it coordinated publication among the newspapers and carrieddetails of it on a database on its website.

Each paper ran an editorial, which is usually an unsigned article thatreflects the opinion of an editorial board and is separate from the newsand other sections in a paper.

The Globe’s editorial accused Trump of carrying out a “sustained assault onthe free press.”

“The greatness of America is dependent on the role of a free press to speakthe truth to the powerful,” it said. “To label the press ‘the enemy of thepeople’ is as un-American as it is dangerous to the civic compact we haveshared for more than two centuries.”

The First Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees freedom of the press.

Trump has frequently criticised journalists and described news reports thatcontradict his opinion or policy positions as fake news.

On Thursday, he said there was nothing he would want more for the UnitedStates than true freedom of the press.