TRUMP A REALITY CHECK FOR MEDIA
The relationship with the White House press corps is being redefined by President-elect Donald Trump, who takes to Twitter to drive home his point and calls out journalists in a fiery new normal reporters will need to adjust to quickly, media watchdogs said.
“This administration is going to cause the press to rediscover itself and rediscover its true role,” said Richard Benedetto, an American University professor who as a reporter covered the White House for decades. “It’s going to be a rough ride because this president operates a little differently.”
Trump held his first press conference in 167 days yesterday and excoriated CNN and BuzzFeed for their coverage of a classified, unsubstantiated report claiming that Russia had compromising personal and financial information on him.
“No, not you. Your organization is terrible,” Trump told Jim Acosta, senior White House correspondent for CNN. “I’m not going to give you a question. You are fake news.”
He called BuzzFeed a “failing pile of garbage.”
The rhetoric — in keeping with Trump’s often-provocative tweets — is a stark departure from past presidents. If the open-mic style continues, traditional media organizations will be forced to adapt and figure out a new way to cover what had been fairly mundane briefings.
“Being in the White House press corps is going to be an incredibly difficult as-
signment,” said Thomas Fiedler, dean of Boston University’s College of Communication, who covered the White House as a reporter. “The signal coming from the top is that the press corps is the enemy, and that is going to make things very frustrating for reporters.”
Marlin Fitzwater, White House press secretary for six years under presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, said it’s “a new world of communications” in the Trump era.
“If President-elect Trump can reach 28 million people with every tweet; that is more than any TV network or newspaper in a single broadcast or news print story,” Fitzwater told the Herald last night.
As for how future press conferences will go once Trump takes office Jan. 20, he added: “This soup is in the making.”
The new administration could also benefit the press. After an Obama administration that frequently controlled the message and was tight-lipped during public appearances, the fourth estate could glean a lot from a president who speaks frankly.
“The president-elect and his staff have been more forthcoming with information than we have ever seen,” said Fitzwater. “The public knows more about this transition and what the president thinks than ever before. The only real difference is that Trump fights back against fake news and shoddy reporting. Good for him.”