With so much good news about the Trump economy, President Trump steadily backing down our enemies around the world, and frivolous assaults on Trump failing to gain traction, the mainstream media is resorting to make the news about them. They are after all their favorite topic. Not really new, Trump has been castigating the media since he started his presidential campaign, but his penchant actually for months now of calling the media especially “fake news” the “enemy of the people” has given the press the vapors. Madder than a wet hen, the media can’t stop clucking about his supposed attack on freedom of the press.
Previously led by CNN’s prima donna, Jim Acosta, constantly moaning about being called fake news and even sobbing about his safety because so few people care about his snubbed sensibilities, the Boston Globe is trying to take the lead in rallying newspapers across the nation to condemn Trump’s characterizations of the media as inimical to the people. This seems pointless since press coverage of Trump is already 90+% negative, but they have already recruited some 70 newspapers to join their tirade against Trump.
Deputy Managing Editor of the Boston Globe, Marjorie Pritchard, insists “We are not the enemy of the people.” Let’s examine what the President means and why the preening pretenders in the press are so offended. First, we still very much have a free press in America as evidenced by the daily relentless onslaught against Trump in almost every media outlet and yet none of them have been imprisoned unlike places like China, Russia, and Venezuela. And thanks to the internet, we have more sources for news than ever before. Despite social media and Google’s best efforts, we can still find myriad news and editorial mediums for every imaginable perspective.
The press is quite free and frankly running amok. Other than social media and Google, no one is censoring news except for the press itself. This is the real crux of the problem; traditional news outlets aided by social media are routinely distorting the news, brazenly trying to isolate conservative opinions, and desperately trying to bend public opinion to their hopelessly liberal bias. Trump is simply calling out the media for their gross disservice to the public by incessantly twisting statements and often flat out reporting fake news.
Trump did not come to his conclusion in a vacuum. He regularly points out the press’s bare knuckles approach to him versus the kid gloves approach to Clinton and Obama, but the public also distrusts the media at record rates. Several polls show the people including Democrats, Republicans, and Independents consider the media untrustworthy by over 70%! A clear majority agree with Trump that fake news is a yhuge problem.
Distorting everything Trump says, the press cloaks their propaganda and shoddy journalism in freedom of the press. They are hiding behind the First Amendment to divert attention from their incredibly slanted reporting and complicity in fake news. Trump is not attacking freedom of the press as the media wants you to believe; he is attacking the charlatans soiling the integrity of the institution and abusing the trust of the people.
Any institution that pledges a public service and then exploits it for their gain or preferred agenda is an enemy of the people. If the Food and Drug Administration routinely declared dangerous products safe for the public, they would be an enemy of the people. So if the press regularly distorts facts or makes misleading reports, they are an enemy of the people and more importantly an enemy of freedom of the press by betraying their duty to the public.
The good news is the people are not fooled, so really nothing needs to be done about the press and fake news. Although aggravating, freedom of the press is still working as intended. It may be overwhelmingly anti-Trump, but we still have many choices and the people have figured out not to trust the mainstream media. Most of the press will keep puling about derogatory comments and will probably keep unfairly maligning Trump, but the people are wise to it. So they will seek out sources they trust and ultimately it is incumbent on the people to hold the press accountable. Those dubious media outlets will either reform themselves to remain relevant or fade away as the people render their judgements with readership and viewership. Americans are much smarter than the press thinks; we will work it out.
“Leave your troubles with the LORD, and he will defend you; he never lets honest people be defeated.” Psalm 55:22
