Last week, our president-elect held his first press conference since the election. Among the many points of focus — the piles of white papers as props, the cramped ballroom, the rumors — one theme trumped them all: his open antagonism toward the press.
When our president-elect shouts, “You are fake news!” at a CNN journalist, we should all take notice. His open taunting of BuzzFeed as a “failing pile of garbage” should send our alarm bells ringing. It’s certainly not historically normal for a president-elect to shout at the fourth estate.
This has been said before. What we haven’t yet confronted is a more subtle danger which lies ahead. Even as Trump mocked some major news outlets, he applauded and thanked The New York Times for not publishing the dossier. His aides suggested that the administration might move the press corps out of the White House.
Enduring a barrage of doubt in our institutions, our press stands at a fairly precarious point now. But more dangerous than to battle with our president would be for journalists to accept his praise or try to gain further access to the president. To accept his praise implies that his judgment matters; journalists should accept neither his praise nor his rebukes. Papers should not tone down their editorial content in hopes of access to our president.
Anyone who has been to a Trump rally could expect his antagonism toward the press. But what we must guard most jealously is the independence of the press; we should be free to criticize one another and hold each other accountable to ethical standards. These standards can never be decided by the powers themselves.
