WATCH VIDEO BELOW
With all the talk about fake news, we might be missing some of the real news about fake news.
As a candidate, Donald Trump made a big deal out of it. Don’t trust the media because they do fake news. They make it up and much of it isn’t true.
As president, Donald Trump and his communications team have made it a key part of his relationship with the media.
He sends a clear message in many of his tweets and in many of his speeches that he doesn’t trust the media and you shouldn’t either.
So how have many in the media been responding to all of these accusations of doing fake news?
Basically by doing the same thing. Accusing President Trump of putting out fake news, news that isn’t real and news you can’t trust.
So when the White House press secretaries meet with the White House press corps in those televised news conferences, they accuse each other of doing what they each accuse each other of doing, fake news.
Now history has shown that journalists who cover the White House are always going to be criticized by presidents. That’s just the way it is as Walter Cronkite used to say years ago.
But instead of appearing at times to whine and complain about the way the president is treating them, maybe the better way to respond is to do their job, aggressively and credibly.
Today’s journalists, like many before them, should remember that the power of a free press can be greater than even the power of the government, as Thomas Jefferson once said.