Trump’s attacks on the media are attacks on all Americans.
People exercising their rights — journalists and all of us — are not enemies
Journalists are not the enemies of the people. They are the people. ¶ President Donald Trump recently tweeted that “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!” ¶ The administration’s prior attacks on “fake news,” the “dishonest media,” the “failing” New York Times and the “opposition party” can be explained away as fiery straight talk designed to appeal to supporters, but this propelled the rhetoric to a new level.
I don’t know much about running a country, or how to make a fine quiche or build a transistor radio, but one thing I do know is journalists. I know they are not enemies of the people.
Research shows that journalism students are more idealistic and curious than their peers. I see that firsthand every day among the 460 outstanding journalism students at the University of Arizona, raised as our neighbors, learning how to inform you and me about what is happening in our communities.
Journalists are like most Americans, living in normal homes, driving normal cars, taking their kids to normal schools. The median salary for U.S. journalists in 2014 was $50,028, closer to the $44,000 median American salary than to the president’s income.
Like most Americans, they work hard, sometimes at great personal peril. Globally, hundreds of journalists are jailed, exiled and killed every year. Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles died from a car bomb in 1976 for doing his job. Journalists face those risks, along with long hours and heavy workloads, because they truly care about people.
Are the media perfect? Not at all
As in any profession, some scoundrels take short cuts, are self-serving or make sloppy errors. Journalists underrepresent women and minorities. About 92 percent of them have college degrees, so they can be blind to the concerns of Americans who don’t. Corporate owners of news organizations often put profits before communities. Reporters are a major pain to politicians and those in power.
The media also face a credibility crisis. A Gallup poll in September indicated that public trust in the media had dropped to 32 percent, down from 40 percent the previous year and from 72 percent in 1976. Many accuse journalists of being biased. A quarter of journalists say they are liberal, 7 percent conservative and the other two-thirds independent or other ideologies.
Regardless of personal feelings, however, we know that news reporters tend to focus on how the system works, regardless of political party. For example, anyone who says journalists coddled President Barack Obama did not see the 2014 letter from 38 news organizations blasting him for his excessive secrecy. As president of the Society of Professional Journalists in 2013-14, I spoke vociferously against Obama’s closed tactics through major newspapers and appearances on Fox News, Russian TV and even Trucker Radio. President Obama was no friend to the media.
Really, no president is a friend of the press, and that’s how it’s supposed to be. Journalists are watchdogs, as intended by our founding fathers.
Sen. John McCain got it right recently when he said that he, like Trump, hates some of the media but “we need a free press, we must have it.” He also knows that the first thing dictators do in corralling power is to neutralize and control communications. It’s Tyranny 101.
We’ve seen this through history
John Adams, through the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, played on the nation’s fears of French terrorists to crack down on immigration and criminalize criticism of the Federalists, leading to forced closure of newspapers and the convictions of 10 Republican critics, mainly journalists, for “false, scandalous and malicious writing.” A campaign by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson resulted in Adams’ defeat in the 1800 election and expiration of the Sedition Act, returning the country to the path of democracy.
Are we going to see a replay of this under Trump? During the past few months, I surveyed and interviewed more than 300 journalists and experts in journalism and freedom of information. Nine out of 10 said that during the next four years it’s going to get more difficult for the public to find out what its government is up to. One reporter told me the relationship between Trump and the press will be a “backyard brawl.” It’s shaping up to be much worse.
As the president’s approval ratings continue to decline — at 40 percent as per Gallup’s Sunday report — perhaps one rebound strategy will be to kill the messenger. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
The First Amendment not only empowers the press to challenge tyranny, but also ensures that anyone can criticize the government. That means all of us.
Indeed, there is no agreed-upon definition for “journalist” — no government licensing, no membership card, no special club. Anyone can commit acts of journalism, especially today through blogs, websites, Facebook or even tweets.
Simply put, this fracas isn’t about Trump vs. the media. When the president calls journalists enemies, he calls us all enemies.
David Cuillier, Ph.D., director of the University of Arizona School of Journalism, is former president of the national Society of Professional Journalists, a board member of the Arizona First Amendment Coalition, and a former newspaper reporter and editor.