Inside D.C.

Trump and media — no winner

Someone once said, “I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig.  You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.”

In the escalating battle between President Trump and the media – “fake news,” “the enemy of the American people,” etc. – both sides demonstrate a stunning level of arrogance.  But it would be difficult to find two professions – politics and journalism – with greater egotism or general indifference to the public which both rely upon.   Both professions have forgotten their original roles as servants, not “champions.”

Now, the two sides in this war of words are wallowing in self-styled victimization.

President Trump, who spent a lifetime crafting his public image as a macho, over-the-top tough guy, a deal-making king of business, ran for the nation’s top job as an outsider. He promised to rock the Washington, DC, establishment to its foundation as he rewrites the presidential playbook.  Yet, he seems surprised the media writ large is working doggedly to expose his outsider strategy as at best, a thinly camouflaged spaghetti-at-the-wall approach to policy, i.e., just throw those policy gambits out there and see what sticks.  It’s improbable he believed the press would cut him slack as political newbie; it’s impossible, based on previous campaign experience, he believed the DC press corps would be “friendly.”  However, rather than refine his approach, he responds with campaign slogans and tweets vilifying the media, giving credence to whatever image the media seeks to paint, all the while, feeding the press bulldog.

As a university-trained journalist – my parents were not thrilled – with skills honed on major metropolitan daily newspapers, weekly and monthly business journals and now, on-line media, this week’s coordinated campaign by over 300 newspapers using their op/ed pages to slap back at Trump’s attacks on media fairness, is disappointing, but not surprising.  It plays to Trump’s accusation the media is in cahoots to bring him down. However, sadly, the hubris it exposes is stunning.

By cloaking itself in the Constitution when convenient, by casting itself collectively as the nation’s first and best line of defense against “tyranny,” by comparing the current administration to Nazi Germany or the old Soviet Union, the media does itself and its audience a disservice.  Most importantly, the public ain’t stupid; it understands what’s going on.  But last I looked, there’s nothing in the First Amendment protecting reporters and editors, producers and “on-air talent,” talking heads, freelancers and bloggers from being called out publicly for being jerks, or worse, incompetent, or flat out wrong.  Calling oneself a journalist does not convey infallibility.

If you speak truth to power, as journalists should – the operative word being “truth” not opinion – then be prepared for those in power to kick back.  However, that “truth” must be based on solid research and objective – repeat, objective – reporting.  Those who run newspapers and TV networks – affiliates included – must understand the first cardinal sin of journalism will always be substituting opinion for solid reporting; the second deadly sin is to underestimate the readers’ or viewers’ intelligence.  Consistently committing those two mistakes means even the best publications are lining birdcages, and your broadcast is viewed in the void.  Worse yet, to commit these sins is to surrender your audience to social media, a deep, bottomless pit of misinformation from which you’ll never win it back.

Political boot camp should offer an entry level course in the care and feeding of a frenzied press corps.  Reporters and editors are working to fill a 24/7 news cycle This why every Sunday on every TV network, bunches of reporters sit around interviewing each other.  Expect even your most benign comments and platform positions to be fair game.  It is the media’s job to ferret out the bad actors and given the microscope under which you and your families will live your public – and a big part of your private – lives, it’s best to operate accordingly, i.e. don’t poke the bear.

Last month, the folks at Gallup released their June, 2018, list of “The Institutions Americans Trust Most & Least.”  The results, interestingly, show strong consistency over the last 30 years, and all 15 of the institutions examined “garner at least some trust.”  Only 37% of those polled expressed “a great deal/quite a lot” of trust in the presidency; newspapers came in for just 23% trust, with TV news inspiring only 20%.

The point here is both institutions – the White House and the media – are waging a war of words in front of a public who would likely not have to read, watch or listen to the noise.