News Media, Target of Trump’s Declaration of War, Expresses Alarm

For wary Washington journalists, it seemed only a matter of time before Donald Trump’s presidency would lead to a high-tension standoff between his administration and the news media. But on Day 1?

The news media world found itself in a state of shock on Jan 22, a day after President Trump declared himself in “a running war with the media” and the president’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, used his first appearance on the White House podium to deliver a fiery jeremiad against the press. Worse, many journalists said, were the falsehoods that sprang from the lips of both President Trump and Spicer. “It was absolutely surprising and stunning,” said the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, Jeff Mason.