Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Spicer's Lies Tell Journalists to Do Their Jobs

Sean Spicer, the new White House Press Secretary, went in front of the media Friday, told them a bald faced lie, and took no questions before leaving the podium. This marks the end of what has been reporters taking dictation in the press room on behalf of previous administrations. The Trump Press Secretary lied to the world, and it is clear that the press cannot accept anything he says as truth. This forces the press to do some digging to get the news, as opposed to reporting propaganda. And it's about time.

For too long, American reporters have worried about access to leading politicians. If a round of questioning was too tough, the reporter might not have access to said politicians in the future. Many feared for their careers. That is not how journalism is supposed to work. Instead, access be damned, a reporter should tell the president, the senator, the governor, "answer the question I asked." Failure to do so will be the story. A good dose of Britain's Andrew Marr or someone similar would do wonders for the US press.

Here is what Mr. Spicer said, "This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration -- period -- both in person and around the globe. These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong." It was not the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration. It plain wasn't. Photographs, transportation records, crowd size experts all point to a much smaller crowd than Mr. Obama had in 2008. Mr. Spicer offered no source for his assertion. Ari Fleischer, a former press secretary himself, wrote, "This is called a statement you're told to make by the President. And you know the President is watching."

Margaret Sullivan at the Washington Post wrote in today's paper, " . . . Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway told 'Meet the Press' Sunday that Spicer had been providing 'alternative facts' to what the media had reported, making it clear we've gone full Orwell." Alternative facts are familiar to anyone who can remember the Soviet Union. They are what the leaders need the people to repeat as gospel whether the people believe it or not. They are divorced from empirical evidence.

Jessica Huseman of ProPublica stated, "Journalists aren't going to get answers from Spicer. We are going to get answers by digging. By getting our hands dirty. So let's all do that." And about time.

In any administration, there is much territory for investigative journalism to cover. In the old days, when a small city could support a morning and evening newspaper, reporters were never at their desks. That's not where the news was. It was out in the city and so were they. Any journalist these days who sits in the press section of the White House waiting to be told what is on the president's mind is not doing the job of reporter.

The Trump administration is probably the most anti-press crew since President Nixon resigned. This journal expects the relationship to get worse. The thin-skinned president has put an unprincipled liar in the role of Press Secretary, and it is likely that many individuals and organizations will lose their White House press credentials in the coming months. That is going to create a sense among journalists that fighting back involves finding the dirt and publishing it. Given who has been proposed for the cabinet, and who sits in the Oval Office, dirt shouldn't be hard to find. As it comes out, the White House will fight back as well.

No politician can survive a war with the media indefinitely. They are his or her conduit to the public. Mr. Trump may last four years at war with the press, but he won't win it.

© Copyright 2017 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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