Press is not the enemy

The next time you read about a newsroom making cuts, think about the extraordinary reporting shedding light on the new administration.

From day one—think crowd size at the inauguration—President Trump has used every opportunity to bash the mainstream media. He’s attacking one of our best checks on government, especially at a time when Congress shows no interest in playing that role with regard to the relationship between the president’s pals and Russia. His anger was precipitated by revelatory journalism that takes time and money, including:

CNN’s accurate report Jan. 12 that both President Barack Obama and the president-elect were briefed on “allegations that Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump.” David Ignatius’ Jan. 12 report in the Washington Post revealing that Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn had spoken with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak regarding the sanctions imposed by Obama.

And the New York Times’ front-page story Feb. 15 revealing that Trump associates had ongoing dialogues with Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election.

We know what we know because of oldfashioned gumshoe reporting that is in short supply these days. Sure, there’s been an explosion of self-described journalist bloggers, but people with laptops sitting in their PJs are no substitute for investigative reporters. Where print advertising has plummeted and newspaper staffs have been eviscerated, we are seeing a damaging trend where there’s less investigative journalism and government goes unchecked. And not just on a national level. Think about some of the local stories uncovered by sleuthing.

Nobody likes leaking. But were it not for the leaks about Michael Flynn, he’d still be a national security adviser who’d spoken with the Russian ambassador about sanctions but said otherwise publicly and to the vice president—a situation known both to him and the Russians, creating the risk of blackmail.