A free press is democracy’s best friend, not the ‘enemy of the people’
History likely is to look unkindly upon those caught up in one of President Donald Trump’s more troubling mass delusions.
Historians will point to moments of collective hysteria to show when the wheels of progress ran off the rails. They’ll call particular attention to times when Trump called the press the “enemy of the people.”
History’s worst tyrants used some form of the phrase when they wanted to discredit their critics. Newspapers across the country are reminding people of this point Thursday.
Editorial boards of more than 100 publications are telling readers that contrary to the president’s insistent claims, a free press is a democracy’s best friend and not the enemy of the people.
Trump supporters will greet this refrain with a collective shrug. Mainstream media are pals with Democrats and the deepstate “swampers” in the Justice Department who are out to get the president for political purposes, they figure.
It’s easier to rationalize behavior when every word or action is viewed through a political lens. One way to make sense of an opposing view is to question the motives of rivals. Those defending themselves from such attacks always will deny any role in an alleged conspiracy. Of course they will.
The free press plays lousy defense. We’re ashamed to admit that as human beings, we make mistakes. Try as we might, we’re unable to entirely divorce ourselves from our inherent biases and prejudices. Those in objective news-gathering roles do their best to appear impartial. Opinion writers make fewer apologies for expressing their views.
Media are collectively at their best when they focus on their work. Want to drain the swamp? We can help with that. We’re good at digging up documents and scouring the public record. We expose government waste and corruption when we’ve nailed down the facts and can back up our reporting.
We’re also effective at confronting public officials and holding them accountable. They don’t always want to talk to us to answer for their deeds. We dutifully ask the questions everyone should be asking. How are my tax dollars being spent? Who are the candidates running to represent me in the next election?
Occasionally, we recommend voting for one candidate over another. In 2016, all but a handful of newspapers across the country endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. In deep-red territories, newspapers that had not endorsed a Democrat in a hundred years claimed Trump was a boorish oaf who did not represent the best of the Republican Party or America.
Trump won. That didn’t mean editorial boards got it wrong. They correctly counseled who should win, not who would win.
Much hand-wringing ensued. Assignment editors from national news outlets dispatched reporters to fly over the country to take the pulse of Trump voters in an effort to better understand how we arrived at this point.
The “forgotten” good citizens of America complained of stagnant wages and jobs lost to immigrants. They exhibited signs of “confirmation bias.” That is they
believed what they wanted to hear. Trump said the right things. He blamed others and gave feasible justification to resent people presumed responsible for why a paycheck didn’t go as far as it previously did.
Historians who attempt to explain Trump’s popularity no doubt will point to the effectiveness of his attacks on opponents. The best defense is a good offense. Trump deflects and distracts with the skill of a master magician.
People have become so accustomed to Trump’s insults that it becomes increasingly difficult to recognize the severity of the attacks in real time. How does the president of the United States calling the free press the enemy of the people become acceptable? Years of negative political messages greased the skids for Trump.
Issues such as education, health care and infrastructure that once enjoyed broad bipartisan support have become politicized. Obamacare was a “total disaster,” we were told for many election cycles. In reality, it was sound policy that would have saved consumers a lot of money had it not been sabotaged.
The high costs of health care and insurance are major reasons many households struggle to pay bills. Health care corporations seeking to protect profits and reward shareholders have a lot to do with high costs, but it’s easier to blame leftists for wanting socialized medicine.
People believe what they want to believe.
Some believe conspiracy theories that originate in “dark web” back channels of the internet. There is evidence that Russian military operatives play a role in planting some of these conspiracies. The free press is busy covering public events and researching court documents. Journalists typically opt to spend their precious time on matters unrelated to rumors that a public figure is a devil-worshiping pedophile.
The refusal of credible media outlets to report on unfounded conspiracies seems to reinforce the beliefs of those who view the press as “fake news.” They agree when the president says the enemies of the people attack him for political reasons. Portraying one’s self as a victim is an effective way to win sympathy.
What can be done? One could try to research issues and better understand the complex reasons why a gallon of milk, a gallon of gas or a medical procedure cost what they do. Newspapers can help with your research. We remain a reliable source of information.
You could take our word for it, or you could take the word of a president who erroneously said during a recent rally that shoppers needed to present photo IDs to buy groceries.
More important, you should vote in every election. Far too many Americans are too busy with work and families to properly educate themselves about elections. Those of us who follow government sometimes struggle to comprehend how so many pay little attention to politics.
Following the news can be fatiguing and unpleasant at times. It’s easier to tune out and watch a show on Netflix or other streaming services. If that’s your choice, I recommend searching for a documentary about Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, China’s Mao Zedong or other authoritarians who called the press the enemy of the people.