A rough start in new stage of Trump’s relationship with press

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) — As thousands of people marched through the streets of American cities Thursday night to protest President-elect Donald Trump, Trump issued one of his first public comments since his victory speech.

“Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!” he tweeted.

After 36 hours of appearing gracious and restrained, journalists saw this as a return to Trump’s campaign trail pattern of urging his supporters to deride the media and constantly complaining about its supposed unfairness and dishonesty.

Nine hours later, he followed that with another tweet saying that he loves the passion of the “the small groups of protesters.”

When Trump flew to Washington Thursday to meet with President Obama, he left his protective press pool behind, a move the White House Correspondents Association called “unacceptable.” The Associated Press reported Friday morning that Trump’s staff has offered unusually limited details about his upcoming schedule, even as he tweeted that he has a “busy day” ahead.

Also on Friday, Trump announced his transition team, which includes Peter Thiel, the man who bankrolled the lawsuit that destroyed Gawker.

“Peter Thiel on this list should send shivers down the spine of every person who cares about press freedom,” Washington Post editor Karen Attiah tweeted in response.

The media now finds itself at crossroads with both the president-elect and the American people. Public opinion of the press was already at record lows before most media outlets and experts failed to see the signs of Trump’s victory coming.

As they analyze exit poll data and attempt to understand what they missed, journalists also must prepare to cover a White House about which very little is predictable.

Reporters have complained over the last eight years of a lack of transparency by the Obama administration, but Trump’s refusal to be transparent during his campaign has stoked fears that he will be much worse.

“I think it’s still going to be an enormous challenge to get information out of the federal government,” said Kevin Z. Smith, former president of the Society of Professional Journalists.

The press and Trump have always had a complicated relationship. It was once largely symbiotic, but he began lashing out more and more against the media in the final months of the campaign as his coverage grew more negative.

The Committee to Protect Journalists issued an unprecedented statement last month declaring Trump “a threat to press freedom unknown in modern history,” citing his vilification of the media.

“While some have suggested that these statements are rhetorical, we take Trump at his word. His intent and his disregard for the constitutional free press principle are clear,” Chairman Sandra Mims Rowe said in the statement, which listed many reasons.

Trump has claimed at rallies that he will loosen up libel laws if elected so people like him can sue news outlets more easily for stories they feel are inaccurate. He has singled out specific reporters for scorn and ridicule, including one with a disability.

He banned major media outlets from his events because he did not like their coverage. He made repeated empty threats to sue publications. When confronted with the killing of journalists in Russia, his response was to praise Vladimir Putin’s leadership and say, “Our country does plenty of killing, too.”

“That is a very worrying track record for anybody who treasures the First Amendment,” said Frank Sesno, a former White House correspondent and Washington bureau chief for CNN. He is now director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University.

The Donald Trump of the primaries who called into news shows constantly and used free media to crowd out his 16 opponents is now long gone. Trump has not held a press conference in months and he has rarely agreed to an on-air interview on a channel other than Fox News since July.

Trump’s inconsistency is part of the problem, according to Don Irvine, chairman of conservative media watchdog group Accuracy in Media.

“His treatment of the press has been all over the map,” he said. “If you’re with him, he loves you. If you’re not, he kind of hates you.”

If Trump hires someone like campaign manager Kellyanne Conway to serve as press secretary, Irvine believes the relationship will improve because she understands the need for it.

“He’s going to be president for at least four years,” he said. “It behooves both sides to be able to work together.”

Smith warned of “four tough years of sledding” for reporters covering Trump, and he believes it may trickle down to other levels of government. Republicans in city and state governments will take their cues from the president.

“If he thinks that he can bully the press and use his supporters to do that as well, I think the press needs to stand up,” he said. “I don’t think he’s going to let up if we don’t. That’s the way that kind of bully mentality works.”

Some have advised the media to set aside the acrimony of the campaign and start over with Trump.

“You need to try to park your biases at the door. Put them in the back of your mind. Remember what the press is supposed to be doing,” Irvine said.

Reporters’ willingness to do so may depend on Trump’s tone and his behavior toward them during the transition. His actions Thursday did not inspire confidence.

Sesno said Trump will be reported on and judged on how he governs, but he cannot be allowed to jettison his track record along the way.

“He has encouraged people to see the news media not merely as an adversary but as an enemy, and that’s a very, very big difference from anything we have experienced since Richard Nixon,” he said.

Trump has frequently fired back at critics in the press and the public, but he will be subject to much more intense scrutiny now, whether he likes it or not.

“He now owns the most criticized job on the planet, and presidents have had to deal with an adversarial press from the very first,” Sesno said.

Smith is skeptical Trump will change his attitude toward the media.

“I’m not sure President Trump is going to embrace the press I see more accusing and finger-pointing and continuing to stir the base,” he said.

Difficult as it may be, Smith urged reporters not to take Trump’s tirades personally.

“They need to be as accurate as they can be,” he said. “They need to focus on the facts. I think we would do ourselves in this business a disservice if we start taking this personally.”

However, liberals who are alarmed by Trump’s divisive campaign rhetoric caution against normalizing a political figure who rose to power as he did.

“In addition to the banal chaos that the Trump administration is likely to unleash, we’re facing a moment that threatens equal protection, due process, free expression, democracy—not just press freedom,” Brian Beutler wrote in the New Republic. “It’s not a drill.”

With 60 million Americans voting for Trump, alienating his supporters carries risks as well.

Irvine pointed to coverage of the election results on Wednesday that seemed more somber than celebratory. In particular, he cited the New York Times front page that day, which highlighted white rage, despair, and uncertainty.

“If you want to rebuild the trust that you lost that’s been going downhill for a number of years you don’t run a headline like that,” he said.

Institutional and economic changes also await as media entities navigate into the future.

Budget cuts and shifting business models are shrinking newsroom staffs, leaving fewer reporters to cover more news. The transition from print to digital media is still in progress.

Smith expressed concern about the rise of partisan sites posting false or misleading information and calling it news. Such stories often spread quickly on social media.

“I think we’re going to find ourselves spending more time debunking things,” he said.

In a country where one party will now control the White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court, the press is one of the few checks on the president’s power left. Maintaining its credibility and legitimacy is more important than ever.

“If holding the powerful to account is somehow seen as illegitimate, we’re in a completely different universe,” Sesno said.