President Trump’s longstanding tirade against the media accuses it of “fake news.” Most alarming is labeling the media as the “enemy of the people.” The free press is guaranteed in the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Opposing the free press is the stuff of tin pot dictators of a banana republic.
It’s not that the media, broadly defined, are above criticism. Previous presidents all have occasionally been angry at what they considered unfair coverage by the media. But all of them have, at the same time, strongly defended the role of the free press as essential to democracy. As esteemed journalist, Walter Cronkite, put it, “Democracy is the free press.”
It is dangerous and disturbing for Trump to label the media as “enemy of the people.” If he complains about coverage, fair enough. But it would be reassuring if Trump would abandon the “enemies” label and couple criticisms of coverage with assurances that he understands the importance of freedom of media to criticize government. Presidents Obama, W. Bush, Clinton and presidents before them didn’t like being criticized by the media. Surely, they often thought it was “unfair,” and sometimes it may have been. But scrutiny by the media goes with the territory. Trump, and any individual worthy of the most powerful position in the world, surely must understand that. As President Truman, often viciously excoriated by the press, famously reminded us, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
To be clear, we should distinguish between the role of the media and its performance. There should be absolutely no controversy over the importance of the free press. No hardcore conservative would tolerate government operating without a free press to hold it to account. Nor would any liberal accept government operating without the scrutiny of a free press. In other words, there should be no controversy across the political spectrum over the crucial role of the free press to democracy.
The assessment of the performance, as opposed to the role, of the media is another matter. Conservatives have long criticized the media as “liberal,” and partial to Democrats. Many, if not most, of us to the left of Rush Limbaugh and Donald Trump see that as utter nonsense, a fiction successfully portrayed through Republican cleverness at “working the refs.”
Conservatives like to portray the media as having been overly friendly to President Obama. Never mind that much of that same mainstream media went right along with Republicans in trashing the Affordable Health Care Act, especially during its troubled initiation. The same media that conservatives portray as “too liberal,” totally neglected the millions of people who benefitted from the ACA until Trump and his Republicans came within Senator McCain’s single vote to eliminate it. The media consists of many different elements, and in discussing its performance, one must distinguish between those elements. All elements of the media play a role, but hardworking investigating journalists are the heart of the free press. Some risk their lives in reporting the gruesome reality of war.
The media, broadly speaking, can be criticized for not asking and not demanding answers to reasons for escalating American involvement in Vietnam, and for not questioning the logic of the American invasion of Iraq. But it was the media that brought home the grim reality of war in Vietnam to the American public. Some observers actually blame the media for the dismal outcome in Vietnam. Others credit it with exposing reality. Clearly, assessment of performance of the media depends on point of view.
Investigative journalism has a long history, too long to list here, of exposing evils perpetrated in American society. It was Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein who exposed the Watergate scandal that resulted in President Nixon’s resignation.
Trump’s criticism of the media generally focuses on major print newspapers, and on television networks, especially CNN and NBC. There seems little doubt that if Trump had his way, he would close down any outlet that refused to echo Trump’s assertion that he is infallible.
This column has often specifically criticized celebrity pundits of the television medium. They seem to stick to the established wisdom and reinforce each other’s ignorance. (If that’s exaggeration, it’s not by much.) After all, they work for corporate outfits whose chief goal is ratings and profits. They dare not go too far afield of conventional wisdom. If they are wrong, so was everybody else. It’s safer to go with the pack.
Celebrity electronic pundits and major journalists were AWOL during the run up to the invasion of Iraq. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld’s false assertion that all prisoners at Guantanamo were the “worst of the worst” was totally unquestioned by the mainstream media.
The mainstream media were blind to the fact that many low income voters benefitted from the ACA. Income inequality and its effects were long under-reported. It should not have taken Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders to expose income inequality as a major concern of working Americans.
It’s not that media news is “fake.” But frequent deficiencies include: Underreporting of major issues, seen as “too boring.” Failure to ask and demand answers on tough questions, such as on war and peace — for fear of appearing unpatriotic. “False equivalence” reporting — “both sides are equally wrong.”
Trump complains that “they” are “out to get him.” A more accurate take is that journalists are doing their job by investigating and exposing what powerful politicians running government refuse to tell us.
During the Republican convention retired General Michael Flynn whipped up the delegates to lynch mob type frenzy with “lock her up.” The media gave Trump and Flynn a free pass. It would have been totally appropriate for journalists and media pundits to pound home that locking up political prisoners is not the stuff of democracy.
Targets of investigating journalists will always play the victim. Are journalists too tough? No, the far greater danger is that journalists will be cowed by the powerful.
That, we cannot afford.
— John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Saturdays in the Monroe Times.
