Donald Trump, who earlier today suggested that President Obama might somehow be linked to the Orlando shooting, has revoked the credentials of Washington Post reporters because of a headline stating that Trump had suggested Obama might somehow be linked to the Orlando shooting. Trump:
Post executive editor Marty Baron:
Donald Trump’s decision to revoke The Washington Post’s press credentials is nothing less than a repudiation of the role of a free and independent press. When coverage doesn’t correspond to what the candidate wants it to be, then a news organization is banished. The Post will continue to cover Donald Trump as it has all along — honorably, honestly, accurately, energetically, and unflinchingly. We’re proud of our coverage, and we’re going to keep at it.
It was just a few weeks ago that Trump launched a Nixonesque attack on the Post and its owner, Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos.
A few random thoughts.
• Shouldn’t we be suspicious of any news organization that hasn’t had its credentials revoked by the Trump campaign?
• This won’t hurt the Post a bit. Access is hugely overrated.
• I’m sorry that this is the first time I’ve written about Trump’s banishment of journalists. Previously he’s gone after Politico, the Huffington Post, and the Daily Beast. Yes, the Washington Post is one of our great newspapers. But Trump’s attacks on other news organizations are no less despicable.
• I’d like to see every news organization covering Trump burn their credentials and refuse to report on his events until open access is guaranteed for all.
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I’d like to see every news organization covering Trump burn their credentials and refuse to report on his events until open access is guaranteed for all.
Amen.
— Pat Daukantas
I”’d like to see every news organization covering Trump burn their credentials and refuse to report on his events until open access is guaranteed for all.”
Except for the fact that they are all seeing huge ratings, better circulation and more advertising revenue because of the endless coverage of Donald Trump, the Washington Post included!!!
You think the Trump book they are writing will be given out for free?
I am reminded of a paragraph in How Al-Anon Works (I think it’s on p. 104) about the anxious confusion in a household in which the rules are unspoken and always subject to change and the members are always subject to criticism for not keeping up. My point is that this is a known pattern and symptom of dysfunction.
What to do about it? When all else fails, describe it clearly and repeatedly (like this blog post). I don’t think it works nearly as well when it’s exposed to the light of day, I think it requires a certain amount of having everybody else silently go along with it.
Marty is quite a dedicated journalist. Being from Boston, you know that. Trump has just picked a fight with the guy who busted Cardinal Law.