The President fired his first offical presidential shot in a war with the media when he announced during his initial visit to the CIA that he was at war with the media and later doubled down when he called us “Enemies of the American people” on multiple occasions. The press is under attack and we must find a way to join the battle or be defeated while never firing a rhetorical shot.
Deny Trump what he values most.
The media has a weapon which could bring this administration back to planet earth in its rhetoric against the media and the First Amendment for merely reporting when he generates fake news and has an outright ban of reporters from press briefings.
This is a president whose definition of fake news is any media report he doesn’t like, or which criticizes him or points out his and his staff’s countless misstatements about the murder rate, Sweeden, or nonexistent Bowling Green massacres.
Too many reporters dismiss the dangers involved with a direct attack on the First Amendment (free speech and free press) rights of the media, thinking it is on a par with every other president who didn’t like what the press said about them.
But this is different. None of them called media "enemies of the people" or said they were at war with journalists. No other president, even Nixon, combined an outright hatred for free speech with a call for religious discrimination.
President Trump is against every part of the First Amendment while voicing strong support for the Second Amendment (guns) following a campaign when he segregated reporters and called for his supporters to oppose them at every turn.
The media must fight against this or see our profession relegated to mere showcases for President Trump’s speeches and taking an entire news cycle to discuss his latest weird tweet.
That's his plan - deflect and misdirect by offering a sensational but meaningless story to replace real reporting.
My suggestion is that since Fox will carry his address to Congress and it will be available online, big media NOT give President Trump free publicity by also carrying his speech on every channel.
Some will say it is the media’s duty to cover these events but it really isn’t depriving anyone of hearing what President Trump has to say; there are many other ways to hear his speech without giving over every network to what is nothing more than a speech.
What would be the reaction?
If there's one thing everyone knows about him it is that President Trump demands attention, so denying it will cause him to tweet up another storm of vitriol against the press, but how much worse can it get than having the president declare war on the media, ban major media from White House briefings, or saying we are the enemy of the people?
Eventually refusing to merely broadcast the administration speeches will have a powerful effect on President Trump who demands constant attention and approval. I argue that it is irresponsible of the major media outlets to continue giving his surrogates free rein to make political speeches over and over instead of answering the questions they are asked.
The media fell for it during the election when Candidate Trump was able to generate free press coverage at double or triple the amount Clinton or Sanders got. He did it by daily making outrageous claims or statements.
It’s time for the media to stop playing by President Trump's rules and start being reporters again. A reporter doesn’t just give free air time to speeches. Reporters ask questions and demand either that they get answers or that someone else come from the administration to give answers.
If that doesn’t happen, then the media needs to join the war already in progress as declared by President Trump and stop giving them free time on TV until the Trump representatives do actually answer questions and not just repeat the same speech over and over.
