Don't Ask, Don't Tell - Being A Journalist In Trump's America

It started when he was on the campaign trail.  Trump's method of diverting attention from the factual bad press he was receiving was to literally pen the media in, and point his stubby orange fingers at them while riling up the ignorant masses in attendance.  With each successful rally in which he got away with it, he ratcheted up the rhetoric, calling them names, threatening them, inviting the crowds to do the same.  He mocked the disability of a reporter who wrote an unfavorable story about him, and his throngs cheered louder.

Every rally he would bellow that the journalists in attendance were “dishonest,” “sleazy,” and “disgusting.”  He doxxed Jorje Ramos of Univision for asking a hard question at a press conference, releasing his personal cell phone number.  His then campaign manager (read: bouncer) assaulted reporter Michelle Fields.  Any TV interview turned into a pity-poor-me session for Trump as he whined endlessly about being treated unfairly.

Excuse me?

We couldn't get the media to turn the cameras away from him  during the campaign, giving him endless free exposure and coverage.  That any reporter daring to try to ask a real question found themselves blackballed by his campaign?  Unfair, who?

Then came the now infamous words "fake news" - Trump-speak for discrediting anything that did not jibe with his version of events.  His dirt dumb base grabbed that like Trump grabs pussy, applying it to everything they don't like.

I'm sorry, but just because you don't like the information being presented; just because it causes that painful cognitive dissonance in your little head, doesn't make it fake.

Two weeks ago a journalist was arrested for asking a politician questions - reporter Dan Heyman as he tried to get a response from Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price about the proposed Health Care bill.

And last night in Montana, the GOP candidate for a vacant House seat, Greg Gianforte, literally body slammed a Guardian reporter who was asking questions about the healthcare bill.  The reporter, Ben Jacobs, ended up with broken glasses and hospital xrays as a result.

BODY SLAMMED HIM.

Tell me Trump's asscension to power has not only emboldened moves like this, but endangered the people charged with keeping the electorate informed.  

GOPers run from reporters, refusing to answer uncomfortable questions, hell, they refuse to hold town halls with their own constituents because they are afraid of having to own the sack of shit they belong to.  Trump locks the press out of meetings - see the now infamous "nutjob" Oval Office- debacle-shitshow in which Russian reporters were allowed, but American reporters were denied.  Press conferences on this nine day embarrass-the-United-States tour de farce in which our press is denied access.  Press conferences where Trump refuses to call on certain outlets, openly disparaging them as "fake news" - see CNN, MSNBC, etc.  

Apparently "real news" outlets are Breitbart, InfoWars, and FOX.  Translation: They lob softballs, feed his thirst for conspiracy theories, and lustily fellate the President in print and TV.

Trump has gone so far as to inquire about jailing reporters who write bad things about him.  (Again, the truth hurts, but is its own defense.)  He is the epitome of free speech is only favorable speech.

Now more than ever, we need real journalism to come to the fore.  We watched for 18 months as media presidents cared more about ratings than about realness, televising every utterance Trump made.  Salivating at the revenue brought in by advertisers keen to sell their wares to all those equally frothy mouthed viewers.

Face it, we were all complicit.  Whether you were in the hated him or loved him camp - Trump made good TV, in that bad-reality-TV way this nation has come to lust after.  The more salacious, the better.  It was like watching The Bachelor crossed with Jersey Shore crossed with Baggage.  The verbal missteps and vileness became legend, we constantly wondered if this was the fuck up that would see him denied a rose and sent packing, and we all reveled in each new hideous expose' about the Orange One.

He became the Ramsey Bolton of this Game of Thronesesque campaign - the candidate we loved to hate.  And so the media - fake and real - kept serving him up on a 24/7 platter.

Even as he turned on them, putting reporters in real danger, the coverage continued.  And he used that power against the press.  Convincing his easily led followers that the media was the enemy, could not be trusted, and above all - were liars.  That no one could be trusted for the truth but him.

And so here we are.  A huge swath of the citizenry not just suspicious of hard hitting journalism, but refusing to believe anything that they don't like.  And reporters now having to fear that if they do their job, ASK QUESTIONS, they are in real danger of being assaulted.  They literally are being penned into a don't ask (anything hard), don't tell (anything unflattering) position.

It is one thing to be a journalist in a warzone.  Commitment to the story, and yes, a fair amount of ego go into that decision making process - of course they want the scoop.  But when a reporter is broadcasting as an embed, or wearing a flak jacket in Kandahar - they know the risks involved.  Wearing a business suit in a hotel, at a campaign stop, or press conference should not come with the same considerations towards bodily harm or death.

Greg Gianforte acted the way he did because Trump acts the way he does.  Like a bully. With no repercussions.  Ever.

Message to Gianforte and every member of the GOP - if you cannot take being asked questions, even ones that make you uncomfortable, then step down.  You serve the people, not the other way around.  And the press, when they are acting responsibly, not as ratings whores, represent the people.  

If your inclination is to strike out at them, ignore them, or shut them out, perhaps you need to take a good hard look at what you have aligned yourself with.  Liars, cheats, conmen, grifters, and criminals obfuscate, avoid, and run.

It is time for the people to take a stand for the journalists who are truly trying to do their jobs - get information and answers for us.  It is time to vote these bastards out.

Comments

[nikki in ny]

I wonder if Montana, which has early voting and had received 70% of the ballots prior to this incident, would have gone the other way had they a traditional election day and had been fully informed of this event. One likes to think they would have been rightfully upset and voted against him. But then chances are that they would have voted the same. Trump/GOP supporters have no issues with anyone's behavior just so long as they are Republicans.

[Jen]

and Montana just voted him in... nice
what a world we live in :(

[Katy]

Amen! brings to mind the old adage, "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!"