February 2017

Not Enemy of the People, Just Doing Our Jobs

[Commentary] We are in uncharted times. Republicans and Democrats alike are adding their voices in protest to recent attacks by President Trump and others on the media. “I’ve had some rather contentious times with the press,” Secretary of Defense General Mattis said in response to a question about whether he saw the media as an enemy. “But no, the press is a constituency — as far as I’m concerned — that we deal with and I don’t have any issues with the press, myself.” “The backbone of democracy is a free press and an independent judiciary,” Sen Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said. “And they are worth fighting and dying for.” “Look, we’re big boys. We criticize presidents. They want to criticize us back, that’s fine,” Chris Wallace said. “But when he said that the fake news media is not my enemy, it’s the enemy of the American people, I believe that crosses an important line.”

Add your voice. The media is not the enemy and we are just doing our jobs.

How the Trump White House is trying to intimidate journalists

Attacks on the press by President Trump and his aides are so frequent that they blur together. But not all attacks are the same. Some, such as the “opposition party” label applied by White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, are aimed at the entire mainstream media. Others target certain news outlets, such as the “failing” New York Times and “fake news” CNN. Still others zero in on individual journalists. What almost all of them have in common is a lack of specifics.

So, it was notable that when the Trump White House went after Politico reporter Alex Isenstadt on Feb 26, it took the unusual step of leveling a precise charge: Isenstadt, according to “one informed official” quoted by the Washington Examiner, laughed about the death of a Navy SEAL during a conversation with White House press secretary Sean Spicer. Politico fired back at what it called a “patently false characterization of the conversation.” Isenstadt declined to discuss the episode further, and the Examiner reporter who agreed to publish the claim, Paul Bedard, turned down an interview request

Trump’s Former Labor Nominee Claims He Was Victim Of ‘Fake News Tsunami’

Andy Puzder didn’t work out as President Donald Trump’s labor secretary, but the fast-food executive would fit in well on the president’s communications team. Puzder argued that his nomination was sunk in large part by biased journalists, who he said carried out a “fake news tsunami” against him.

He applauded Trump in his ongoing feud with the press. “When you’ve got The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, The Huffington Post and all the major news networks on [the left’s] side, it’s very, very difficult to get your message out there,” Puzder said. “I think that’s one of the reasons President Trump is so aggressively taking on the media and pointing out what they’re doing, and I think he should.” “I think it’s horrific the way they’re treating this president,” he added.