PRESSING ON

One would think, based on the hostile relationship between Donald Trump and the MSM that this is a new problem. History, however, teaches us that the opposite is true. There has always been a serious problem with conflicts between the people in charge and the press. Donald Trump is not the first President to deal with a hostile press, that would be John Adams. Like in the second President of the United States John Adams. Adams was so pissed over negative stories about him that he signed the Sedition Act of 1798 making it a crime to publish criticism of the government. That was repealed when Thomas Jefferson took over in 1800. The MSM likes to quote Jefferson as the champion of the free press. But in reality, Jefferson hated the press too.  He gave a speech on June 14, 1807 explaining the problem:

http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_speechs29.html

To your request of my opinion of the manner in which a newspaper should be conducted, so as to be most useful, I should answer, “by restraining it to true facts & sound principles only.” Yet I fear such a paper would find few subscribers. It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could not more completely  deprive the nation of its benefits, than is done by its abandoned prostitution to falsehood.

Jefferson was not sure which did more harm; suppressing the press or letting the press publish information it knew or should have known was false.  When Donald Trump accuses the press of Fake News, he is only following in the tradition of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

There is one major difference. This time our news is not limited to what we read in the newspaper or on hear on the nightly News. Thanks to the internet, we can see videos of what was actually said and we can read actual documents. The problem for the media is not that Donald Trump accused them of fake news; it is that it is so obvious that he is often right about this.

The press has been showcasing Omarosa 24/7 and then asked the White House why it didn’t just ignore the outrageous allegations. Sarah Sanders kicked them in the teeth with this response:

https://www.redstate.com/alexparker/2018/08/15/omarosa-sarah-sanders-trump-platform/

“I think all — not only those of us here in the White House, but frankly, I think most of America would be happy to ignore it, but unfortunately the individuals in this room continue to create a large platform for somebody they know not to have a lot of credibility, for someone they frankly refused to give a platform to when they worked here at the White House.”

We are about to see a fundamental change, not because the press has changed, but because it is simply harder for them to get away with crap. Anyone bothering to do five minutes of research soon realizes that the MSM often gets facts wrong and any reference to Donald Trump is almost always negative. In addition, even to people who desperately want to believe, the press has promised too much and delivered too little. Those people foolish enough to watch CNN, NBC, CBS, MSNBC and ABC all expected Trump to be publicly humiliated and frog marched out of the Oval office in disgrace. It is increasingly clear that Trump isn’t going anywhere, but a lot of his opponents are the ones being humiliated.

One thing that hasn’t changed is this. The MSM will not even consider just doing the right thing for the right reason. It wasn’t in their DNA in 1807 and it isn’t in their DNA now.

TDM