The institution of the press is not the enemy of the people. The Founders valued it so much that it is one of the freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. But that freedom does not give journalists the right to act like–well I won’t say the word I am thinking of. While I do not agree with the President that “the press is the enemy of the people” in principle, far too many journalists (and almost all of them in the lamestream media) have become enemies of the truth, which makes them bad for America. Jim Acosta showed why he is a great example of this yesterday during President Trump’s post-election press conference.
Journalism should not be about bringing down the powerful. That is one of the leftover downsides of the Watergate scandal. Woodward and Bernstein became celebrities for bringing down a corrupt President of the United States in Richard Nixon. Now everybody wants to be like them. As Rush Limbaugh rightly observed on his radio show today, " If you’re a young journalist in—take your pick media market, small market America—and you want to get noticed by the big guys, do a profile on somebody in your town and destroy them or take an industry and destroy it, or try to. Take something powerful and big and successful and damage it." That is what journalism has become about rather than finding facts and reporting on them regardless of whether it helps, hurts, or has no effect on the powerful. Truth has become a casualty of activism and career advancement for far too many journalists. That is why 72% of Americans say traditional outlets report news they know to be fake, false, or purposely misleading. It’s because they do exactly that to advance a narrative, destroy someone with whom they disagree, or for personal advancement.
I agree Steve, it’'s vital that we have free unmolested press that reports fact and accurate information. And when they go digging for dirt all too many times that have invested so much time, energy and money to just walk away, so they continue digging until something…anything for to pop up.
OP, are you seriously complaining about some members of the press being enemies of the truth while completely ignoring the President’s (and his administrations) constant lies?
Amazing they can be so doe-eyed in their innocence.
“Why is there so much incivility and lies in Donald’s MAGAnificent America? We’ve never seen anything like this!”
Clutch your pearls elsewhere, Trumpists. This is exactly what you chose to see rewarded in America. The fact that the side you oppose is taking equal part in it doesn’t absolve your own participation and support for the current zeitgeist.
That is quite an assumption. I am thankful for a lot of the things he has done that I never expected he would do, which is why I voted third party in 2016. But I do not support everything he does or how he does it.
I am not ignoring the faults of the President, although I am willing to bet that you think he and the Administration lie about a lot more than I think they do. This is in reference to the event that happened yesterday during the press conference, not comparing and contrasting the overall character of Jim Acosta and President Trump throughout their entire lives.
That’s because, in this case, I feel everything he did and said with the exception of making the blanket statement that the press is the enemy of the people is correct.
Expand it out to the larger picture. Donald has exploited and grown a culture of incivility and dishonesty. He personally benefits from it. He will do nothing to stop it. This is what you voted for - enjoy the carnage.
Nixon wasn’t corrupt and could have only dreamed about doing what the truly corrupt previous Administration actually did with the Fast & Furious gun running, the politicizing and criminalizing of Government agency’s like the IRS, State Department, DOJ and FBI topped off by campaign collusion against Bernie. So placing a bug in a Dem office & 15 minutes of missing Nixon tapes was like a kindergarten prank.
Rush says everything so much better then I ever could but I have said for a long time that it was Bernstein and Woodward that killed journalism in this country and turned it into junk!
Oh my gosh, where do I begin. Ted Cruz’s father being involved in the JFK assassination, possibly the Stormy Daniels thing, going back on the Elizabeth Warren bet (even if it was a stupid 1/1024 technicality, the endless back in forth changes in political positions during the 2016 election that thankfully have not continued for the most part during his presidency, past marriage vows…
Do you think it’s more dangerous for the POTUS to be telling his supporters that the free press is the “enemy of the people” or Acosta’s candor/actions/behavior during his questioning the other day?
I learn long time ago that press isn’t my friend…and I mean long time ago.
As I was telling someone else couple hours ago I remember Walter Cronkite the most trusted man in America comment about hunting a trapping for fur is the most inhuman imaginable.
Shortly after that they started attacking and throwing paint and yes in some cases blood on people wearing fur.
As a kid I use to trap muskrats and hunted coons. It wasn’t bad money.
So I knew back then words matter, reporting the news matter…but the fact is he wasn’t reporting the news, he was making news with his personal statement of his own bias and lack of information.
