Here's a great paragraph from today's New York Times article on Trump berating the media.
“Whenever you see the words ‘sources say’ in the fake news media, and they don’t mention names,” he wrote on Twitter, “it is very possible that those sources don’t exist but are made up by fake news writers. #FakeNews is the enemy!”
The President needs to ask the New York Times or the Washington Post or the Guardian if he can sit in on an editorial review session for a major article so he can understand just how rigorous editorial review is. The Times and the Post and the Guardian don't just make it up.
Unlike the White House, they have ethical standards.
There is good reason to berate the media. The President can legitimately berate local television stations for not questioning their members of Congress about climate change. The President can legitimately berate local television stations for not asking their Republican members of Congress why the Republicans had no workable healthcare bill ready to go following years of complaining about Obamacare. The President can legitimately berate local television stations for ignoring what's happening in their state legislatures. The President can legitimately berate ABC, NBC, and CBS for never doing any in-depth reporting on climate change, healthcare, the wars, the risk of offshore oil drilling, student debt and every other major problem confronting the country.
But when the President berates the media for using anonymous Washington sources, who if named would probably lose their jobs, he simply demonstrates what he's demonstrated every day of his presidency, that he does not understand how Washington works.
Unfortunately, he continually demonstrates he doesn't understand that professional journalism like you see in the Washington Post and the New York Times and the Guardian is absolutely essential to a democracy. He continually attacks the primary institution required for any democracy to remain strong.
The President's insults of the media demonstrates the President is an insult to democracy.
“Whenever you see the words ‘sources say’ in the fake news media, and they don’t mention names,” he wrote on Twitter, “it is very possible that those sources don’t exist but are made up by fake news writers. #FakeNews is the enemy!”
The President needs to ask the New York Times or the Washington Post or the Guardian if he can sit in on an editorial review session for a major article so he can understand just how rigorous editorial review is. The Times and the Post and the Guardian don't just make it up.
Unlike the White House, they have ethical standards.
There is good reason to berate the media. The President can legitimately berate local television stations for not questioning their members of Congress about climate change. The President can legitimately berate local television stations for not asking their Republican members of Congress why the Republicans had no workable healthcare bill ready to go following years of complaining about Obamacare. The President can legitimately berate local television stations for ignoring what's happening in their state legislatures. The President can legitimately berate ABC, NBC, and CBS for never doing any in-depth reporting on climate change, healthcare, the wars, the risk of offshore oil drilling, student debt and every other major problem confronting the country.
But when the President berates the media for using anonymous Washington sources, who if named would probably lose their jobs, he simply demonstrates what he's demonstrated every day of his presidency, that he does not understand how Washington works.
Unfortunately, he continually demonstrates he doesn't understand that professional journalism like you see in the Washington Post and the New York Times and the Guardian is absolutely essential to a democracy. He continually attacks the primary institution required for any democracy to remain strong.
The President's insults of the media demonstrates the President is an insult to democracy.
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