In Defense of an Open, Fair and Free Press

It’s been clear for decades that the mainstream media is nearly 100 percent in the tank for the Democrats, but the extent of its corruption and dishonesty has finally become a national conversation, thanks to President Donald Trump’s willingness to fight back. To some in the media, the speech was a “reset” for the new president. Being in news isn’t just what we do, it’s very much a part of who we are. Although I’m not breaking national stories about our administration and now have no White House-related credentials to speak of, when this story broke, I felt like I was one of the reporters prohibited from entering Spicer’s office. Barring a few organizations from a White House press briefing wasn’t simply an attack to those media outlets; it was an offense on journalism as a whole.

A survey conducted by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal shows that over half of those polled say the media is too critical of Trump and is guilty of exaggerating problems within the administration.

The White House was elated Wednesday about the positive reaction across the country to President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress and quickly moved to turn his words into action on a legislative agenda. Sending shockwaves through the media realm; this caused many organizations to withdraw from the event in an effort to protest Trump’s treatment of the media. If he didn’t like what they wrote he kicked them out and courted another one who was friendly to the President!

Hopefully, this stand will continue beyond the presidency of Trump, and will maintain the majority’s voice in the public sphere, so their opinion may be heard again and again as the will of the people. We were told the practice and process of political reportage would change with Trump, but I didn’t expect this level of change. A comedy performance has become the recently popular choice.

“The backbone of democracy is a free press and an independent judiciary”, said Republican U.S. Sen. Adding insult to injury, the White House barred specific news outlets perceived as hostile adversaries from press meetings.

Spicer made a decision to hold an off-camera “gaggle” with journalists inside his West Wing office, also leaving out outlets like The New York Times, The Hill and BuzzFeed. Some think that Trump’s actions against news outlets weaken their credibility and could be damaging to our democracy. Before his election, he kicked reporters for the Dallas Morning News, New York Post and Washington Times off his campaign plane because he didn’t like their coverage. In reality, he should thank the media for helping to put him where he is today, by providing him with an nearly 24/7 pulpit inside voters home during the election. If Trump bans even more reputable news sources and doesn’t allow the press to maintain and produce ethical material for the masses, he does an unethical disservice to the American people. Unethical reporters “make up stories and make up sources”, he fumed.

This refusal to allow certain publications to participate in a press conference is unprecedented.

This is not inherently bad, as Spicer is free to choose as he wishes from the room full of reporters.

What Trump doesn’t realize is that his bigoted, puffed-up bullying will only take him so far. For inclusion in the press pool, he said, news media were judged on how “fair” they were to the president. Asked about it during a news conference, Trump told a Jewish reporter to sit down when he asked about how Trump plans to combat anti-Semitism. These reports looking into a possible relationship between the Trump White House and Russia have escalated since Michael Flynn, Trump’s pick for head of the National Security Agency, resigned after lying about speaking with Russian intelligence agents during the transition period. Rather, it is just another unfriendly cold shoulder to the news establishment and a missed opportunity for Trump to extend some kindness to an unsteady nation. During Trump’s campaign a year ago, journalists from The Washington Post, Huffington Post, the Daily Beast, Politico and BuzzFeed were barred from attending events and news conferences.