(Image source from: www.thehindu.com)

Over 300 news outlets on Thursday have launched a campaign to counter the United States President Donald Trump's attacks and promote a free press, reports BBC.

Earlier this week, The Boston Globe called for the denouncement of Trump's dirty war against the media across the nation with a hashtag #EnemyOfNone, after Trump mocked media reports as "fake news" and attacked journalists as "enemies of the people".

The United Nations experts have said this raises the risk of violence against journalists. The Boston Globe had sworn to compose an editorial "on the dangers of the administration's assault on the press" on 16 August, and asked others to do the same.

The initial positive response from 100 news organizations has grown closer to 350 with major U.S. national newspapers and smaller local outlets, including international publications like the UK newspaper The Guardian.

Topeka Capital-Journal likewise joined the campaign which said of Trump's attack on the media: "It's sinister. It's destructive. And it must end now." The paper was one of the few to back Trump in 2016.

The reality that Trump won without such media back may cast uncertainty on whether the Globe's campaign would in reality outcome his assist.

There have been some dissenting voices to the Globe's campaign.

Tom Tradup at the conservative website Townhall.com panned the Globe's "pathetic bid to pretend it is still relevant", writing: "I would not presume to tell anyone else what to think or what to do. But as for me - and I suspect many others - I won't be putting any coins in any newspaper box August 16th."

The Wall Street Journal declined to take part.

Quinnipiac University's which was released on Thursday suggested that 51 percent of Republican voters now accepted the media to be "the enemy of the people rather than an important part of democracy" whereas 52 percent of the Republican supporters polled were not concerned the Trump's criticism would lead to hostility against journalists.

The poll suggests that 65 percent of voters among others believe the news media to be a crucial part of democracy.

An Ipsos poll, also this month, gave similar figures. In add-on, it was found that 23 percent of Republicans, and around one in eight Americans in general, believed Trump should shut sown mainstream news outlets like CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times.

The pressure on mainstream media has certainly ramped up by Trump through several tweets.

The Trump Twitter Archive says he has tweeted 281 times so far using the term "fake news".

The publisher of the New York Times, AG Sulzberger, told Trump in a personal meeting in July that the president's language was "contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence".

By Sowmya Sangam