<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Thursday, March 28, 2024
March 28, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Local View: President, people, press all critical to unbiased journalism

By The Independent’s editorial board
Published: February 5, 2017, 6:01am

With the inauguration of Donald J. Trump, the relationship between the press, the people and the president is shaky at best.

Only 32 percent of Americans trust media “to report the news fully, accurately and fairly,” based on a 2016 Gallup poll. This is the lowest rate in Gallup’s history. Trump has consistently criticized and disparaged the press, most recently calling journalists “among the most dishonest human beings on Earth.”

Honest and unbiased journalism is more important now than ever. After all, where would we be without Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, the Washington Post reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal, leading to the first resignation of a U.S. president? Or The Boston Globe’s 2002 Spotlight team that exposed the cover-up of more than 800 child sex-abuse cases by the Catholic Church, just in the Boston archdiocese?

Fixing this divide is daunting and impossible to accomplish individually. An open yet critical relationship between the press, the people and the president is worth fighting for, but all parties must work to repair this relationship.

In many instances, journalists have contributed to the problem. The rush to be first has led to irresponsibility and recklessness. BuzzFeed’s publication of an unsubstantiated intelligence report about Trump is a perfect example. More recently, a Time reporter erroneously tweeted that Trump removed a bust of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from the Oval Office, highlighting the problem of assuming without investigating.

Facebook, where nearly half of U.S. adults get their news, has spread fake news through its “Trending Topics” feature. Consequently, deciphering truth from opinion, or flat-out lies, is difficult.

Trump has called most news organizations “dishonest” and spreaders of “fake news.” However, Trump is a main propagator of fake news and has repeatedly fabricated news and used unreliable sources for his claims.

We believe Trump bashes journalists because the truth is inconvenient for him.

By perpetuating the birtherism conspiracy, claiming President Obama was foreign born, Trump connected with a base he needed to win. By arguing that “thousands” of New Jersey Muslims cheered as the World Trade Center collapsed, Trump fueled Islamophobia and gained support for banning Muslims from entering the U.S.

Take responsibility

The relationship between the president and the press has often been poor, from President Nixon’s attempt to suppress the Pentagon Papers, to President George W. Bush barring the publication of photos of coffins returning the bodies of U.S. soldiers and Marines from Iraq and Afghanistan, to Obama’s use of social media to control his narrative.

Nonetheless, Trump’s public attacks and restricted access should alarm everyone. A free press is one of the few tools we have to hold the president and the government accountable.

To heal, all sides must work. The president should not spread lies and disparage the press. Nor should he spout “alternative facts.” The press, as Carl Bernstein said, must get the “best obtainable version of the truth.”

Finally, the people must step outside of their comfort bubble of networks that serve as echo chambers of their views.

mobile phone icon
Take the news everywhere you go.
Download The Columbian app:
Download The Columbian app for Android on Google PlayDownload The Columbian app for iOS on the Apple App Store

If you are constantly checking Facebook, read a couple articles a day from news sources with minimal partisan bias. Consider the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Associated Press and The Columbian.

Vary and balance your news sources like your daily vitamins; don’t overdose on one source and neglect all others. Stay away from clickbait and sensational “news” because, just like junk food, it often lacks substance.

To make the best decisions in your life, you need to be informed. Ultimately, our future is at stake.


Ieva Braciulyte, Sandra Maszak, Benji Grundner, Elliott Lang, and Steven Mitchell are members of the editorial board for The Independent, Clark College’s campus newspaper. This opinion was written as part of a collaboration with The Columbian called Voices From Clark College.

Loading...