History Will Be the Judge

Translating Trump: Parsing the President's Comments on the Press

Side by Side

In this ongoing segment, Glasgow-based columnists Michael Burns and Alec Carmichael have agreed to square off on issues of national and international significance. Less a debate format than an opportunity to feature in-depth discussion, "Side by Side" will feature structured analysis of current events complete with fact-checking, editorial support and, when necessary, informal arbitration. To suggest a topic for our duo, write to [email protected].

In the last few weeks, the Trump administration has taken a harsh tone with the media. For reasons that are unknown to the press corps, his treatment of The New York Times, CNN and others has broken with tradition to say the least. Why you might ask? No one knows. Theories abound of course about Trump’s aversion to criticism, a desire to control information to the public, and even preludes to tyranny (insert deep gasping sound). All are mere speculation, and they detract from the real conversation. The more harmful aspect of this harsh media relationship is the weakening of the people’s right to know.

It is no accident that the founding fathers enshrined the press in the First Amendment. It was after all the only way to compel the colonies to work together and take up arms against a Tyrant in the first place. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and Benjamin Franklin’s ownership and use of newspapers were key in educating the general population on the necessity of revolution and dispersing information to those citizens to garner support. The press therefore was the first implement of freedom, and was placed ahead of arms and militias in the Bill of Rights for good reason. It is necessary to have information before you can take action, which highlights the importance of the media. Before Washington was fighting many more founding fathers were using the press to build support against the Crown, to make the case to the colonial citizens that they should support revolution and give up certainty for the dream of freedom.

This is one reason amongst many that highlight why Trump’s behavior seems off, to say the least, to many around the world. The Press are so ingrained in American heritage that we almost take them for granted. Imagine a world where we filed our own Freedom of Information Act requests, and sat in our own briefings and hearings to learn the inner workings of our government, and more importantly to learn what they happen to be doing with our money and power that we bestowed upon them.

The President has every right to criticize the media; he does and he should hold them accountable just as he should Congress and the Judiciary. Similarly, Congress and the Judiciary will also hold him accountable. The Press will do the same. They will criticize, analyze and report the truth regardless of the affects on their image or on the administration. It is true after all, that the reason the media exists is to provide the truth no matter how damning or disparaging.

It is necessary, in a free society to hold those with power accountable, and to deter corruption. The only power we the people have to stop those who hold our power is through our votes, and the only way to vote wisely is to be informed. The only way to gain information is to learn of it from a trusted source whether scholarly, through the media or through institutes. The need for analysis and information is important in a free society.

If left to its own devises, the government would volunteer almost no information to the public. It is inconvenient, and considered tantamount to volunteering information to an overseer or inspector. Therefore, the government despises the act of being held accountable by the media, or should we say by the people. Still if not for the media, Nixon would not have been discovered as a corrupt President, and countless other corruptions would have failed to manifest in the public conversation - expensive hammers come to mind, or perhaps the Pentagon papers.

Regardless of Trump’s opinions or treatment of the media, they are in fact necessary for a free and open state in which the government accounts for their actions to the people.

The President does not get to decide where people get their information, nor does he get to decide what questions those media personnel ask his press secretary or himself. In fact the best solution, if history is to offer up a lesson to the President, is for Trump to govern and do it well, then history will judge and the media’s reports will be nothing more than footnotes in the President’s legacy.