Media drains the swamp; President Trump doesn’t notice

Editor’s note: Another Viewpoint is a column The Morning Journal makes available so all sides of an issue may be aired. Cliff Anthony teaches journalism at Lorain County Community College.

The credibility of the news media is tainted by the sexual harassment allegations leveled against national TV personalities and their downfall in the aftermath.

It is déjà vu 2003 when the media’s credibility was called into question following the revelation that Jayson Blair, then a reporter for The New York Times, fabricated and plagiarized stories.

The newspaper’s actions were swift.

Blair was fired, and Executive Editor Howell Raines and Managing Editor Gerald Boyd resigned in disgrace because Blair’s fake news landed on the newspaper’s front pages on their watch.

Many journalists, including yours truly, then a reporter for a mid-size publication, felt let down by Blair and the Old Gray Lady of New York.

The media seem to have salvaged its credibility until the recent outbreak of sexual harassment scandals.

The bombshells began with Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News, followed by the network’s star Bill O’Reilly, CBS’s veteran journalist Charlie Rose and NBC’s Matt Lauer. O’Reilly, exuding a holier than-thou attitude, reveled in ridiculing Bill Clinton for his infamous escapades with Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office in the mid-1990s.

Lauer, on the other hand, grilled O’Reilly about the sexual harassment allegations that forced him out of Fox News. Lauer, who came across as a church-going Little League coach, turned out to be an alleged sexual predator as well.

As a journalism teacher now, while trying to instill the importance of personal and professional integrity in students, I struggle to explain to them about these big-name journalists’ double-standard.

During my 25 years as a newspaperman, I’ve witnessed newsroom romances and flirtations.

Some end up in blissful marriages and some in tragic breakups, resulting in one of the parties’ move to a distant city. When male journalists had crossed the line and harassed their female colleagues, the perpetrators had been summarily fired.

However, in the present toxic political climate, a few bad apples in the newsroom give ammunition to President Trump who doesn’t miss the opportunity to taunt the media by calling them “the enemy of the people” and “fake news.”

What Trump conveniently ignores is the media — broadcast and print, big and small — are voluntarily draining the swamp in the newsroom.

O’Reilly, Rose and Lauer et al were let go.

Journalists, who had made erroneous reporting, were reprimanded and, in some cases, were shown the door.

Reporting errors were acknowledged and corrections were run as quickly as possible. News organizations should be applauded for their prompt responses.

They are sending a strong message that sloppy reporting and bad behavior, inside and outside the newsroom, are not tolerated.

Unfortunately, Trump doesn’t acknowledge it.

Cliff Anthony