Steve Thomma addressed nearly 550 students, staff and community members to wrap up First Amendment Day activities.

Thomma, a senior White House Correspondent and political editor for McClatchy newspapers, spoke with the theme of “the press, the presidency and the campaign,” criticizing many relevant presidential candidates, former candidates, former presidents and President Obama for their treatment of the press.

Thomma began with the candidates who are no longer in the 2016 presidential race and continued from the most press-friendly to the least.

Jeb Bush ranked the highest on Thomma’s list, followed by Chris Christie, Martin O’Malley, John Kasich, Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz.

Cruz marks the transition from press-friendly to not, and is notable for the “wacky conspiracy theories” that he touts about the media, Thomma said. One theory is that media has conspiracy to cover Republican rival Donald Trump excessively, causing Cruz to be unable to win, Thomma said.

“The media is not capable of a conspiracy, we can barely make money — we don’t make money,” Thomma said. “You have to question Ted Cruz.”

But the media doesn’t have to have equal air time, if it did all 17 GOP candidates would still be in the race for president.

Next on Thomma’s list is Hillary Clinton, who Thomma referred to as “the most media-scarred figure in public life since Richard Nixon.”

While Clinton has demonstrated a level of transparency by releasing her full income tax returns for the last decade, something no other candidate has done, she is not without faults when it comes to the media.

Clinton went weeks on end without taking a question from a single reporter, at one point going 80 days in a row without speaking with the media.

Thomma introduced Trump as the next candidate on his list by claiming he is “not the worst,” although he thrives on his hatred for the media. This hatred is made apparent by Trump’s constant suing of journalists.

“[Trump] uses lawyers like I use cough drops in spring allergy season,” Thomma said.

The number one least-press friendly politician is President Obama, whose administration has worked to diminish the media, Thomma said.

“There have been more criminal investigations for publishing news in this administration than any other,” Thomma said.

Maddie Fetters, freshman in advertising, fears for the freedom of the press, despite not being particularly interested in politics.

“I do feel like [the press] is something that’s more under attack nowadays, and I feel like it’s something that might be more neglected because we’re worried about different topics,” Fetters said. “I’m glad we had a speaker here today that was enlightening us on what dangers are present to us.”