This is the second in a three-part series looking at the Trump administration’s attempts to undermine sources we typically look to for truth. You can find the umbrella article here.

“Scum.” “Slime.” “Sleazy.” “Dishonest.” “Disgusting.” “Not good people.” “I would never kill them, but I do hate them. And some of them are such lying, disgusting people.”

There’s almost no point in writing this. Anyone who has paid any attention to Donald Trump knows that he has frequently criticized the media. Media Matters has a staggering list of incidents in which Trump has attacked specific journalists and the media in general. During many of his campaign rallies, Trump would encourage the crowds to turn and boo at the media corral. He frequently accused them of being in bed with the Clinton campaign, part of the “rigged” system. It only got worse after women began publicly accusing Donald Trump of sexual assault.

So let’s back up. Is the media biased? Is it fake? What’s its role, anyway?

Media’s Role as Truth-Teller

You can probably take a full course on the history of the media at a nearby college. We can’t cover it all here. Wikipedia might be a good place to start if you want to dig in. We’ll try to hit the key points here.

When we talk about “the media,” we’re generally referring to the press. Journalism. Freedom of the press is protected by the First Amendment, and there are a number of important court cases that more clearly define the legal rights of the press.

The press is sometimes referred to as the “fourth estate,” putting it on equal terms with the other three “estates of the realm:” the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. In more modern terms, it’s often considered the “fourth branch of government,” making it a check on the powers of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

Either sentiment indicates that the press is supposed to be an important part of society. The press is supposed to be a way for news and information to travel between people. A medium for information. In particular, it is supposed to serve the common people and keep them aware of what’s happening outside of their town and their immediate lives.

Ideally, the media should be objective. That is, facts and information should be reported without injecting the reporter’s own bias or agenda. Here is how journalist Jonathan Fenby describes objectivity of the press:

Demonstrably correct information is their stock in trade. Traditionally, they report at a reduced level of responsibility, attributing their information to a spokesman, the press, or other sources. They avoid making judgments and steer clear of doubt and ambiguity. Though their founders did not use the word, objectivity is the philosophical basis for their enterprises – or failing that, widely acceptable neutrality.

However, some criticize the approach of journalistic objectivity as misguided or impossible. Some would say that simply deciding which stories to cover is an expression of bias. Others argue that by trying to remain neutral, a media outlet may not thoroughly investigate a critical story, or may engage in false equivalence by insisting that both sides of an issue be told, even if evidence does not equally support both arguments.

Nevertheless, most major, reputable news organizations abide by a code of ethics which encourage and enforce, as best they can, ideals such as objectivity, accuracy, fairness, and public accountability.

But Wait – What About Cable News? What About Blogs?

Journalism should be fair and objective, but no one’s forcing it to be. Freedom of speech allows you to have an opinion and express it loudly. Profit and personal interests tend to complicate things, especially when you have 24 hours of airtime to fill. If you’re rich enough to own a media conglomerate, you can subtly (or not so subtly) guide its message as long as people keep watching and your shareholders stay happy. And it turns out, people like listening to other people agree with them (see: confirmation bias), especially if they admire those people or perceive them to be powerful. So it’s no surprise that an industry of pundits arose. What started as partisan talk shows, essentially opinion programs, eventually bled throughout entire networks. Jon Stewart famously confronted the hosts of CNN’s Crossfire for leading American cable news down this path.

And the internet only exacerbated the problem. Now, anyone with some time on their hands can put their message out there, no matter how incorrect or misguided. People read it, it fits their world view, so they believe it and share it. Before long, these sites – which certainly aren’t ascribing to that code of ethics mentioned above – begin telling you that all the other media outlets, the ones you don’t agree with, are lying. There are so many of these sites that you can surround yourself with them, constantly reinforcing yourself that you’re right, without ever taking in any information from a reputable news organization. The dreaded “echo chamber.”

So, yes, media can be biased and fake. But we’ve come a long, long way from the mainstream press. The network news channels, the Associated Press, Reuters – they can occasionally make mistakes, especially in today’s fast-paced news cycle. But they retract them and apologize. They’re following their code of ethics. They’re trying to be objective and report the news and investigate fairly and thoroughly. If you truly believe they’re not, and your favorite news sources (that likely exhibit obvious biases) are somehow closer to reality, I’d ask you to take a long, hard, objective look at things. Read something from Breitbart. Read something from U.S. Uncut. Then read something from the Associated Press. Ask yourself which is really trying to give you an unbiased view of the world.

So What’s Trump Doing?

To start, Trump’s campaign manager and now chief strategist, Steve Bannon, is the former executive of Breitbart news, a far-right/alt-right news website that’s very far from being objective journalism. Bannon has been given a seat on the principals committee of the National Security Council, an unheard-of role for a political adviser.

Trump has also praised Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist who runs the InfoWars website (which many put firmly in the “fake news” category). Trump told Jones: “Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down.”

Combined with the major role that Trump played in the infamous “birther” controversy, it seems safe to say that he is prone to conspiracy theories and his judgment on what constitutes fair and objective media is skewed. It’s easy for him to make the step (and take his supporters with him) to say that the mainstream, relatively unbiased media is “liberal” and “unfair.”

But for Trump, I think it’s more personal. During the campaign, he thrived on the rallies, the crowds, the chanting, the attention. In his world, he was king. But the media – excuse me, the crooked, unfair, liberal media – wanted to drag him through the dirt (in his eyes). They wanted to bring up things he said, things he had done. They asked about his taxes, his plans. They were not helping him succeed – so they became the enemy. Cue the comments and video clip at the beginning of this article.

And now, here we are, despite all the “rigging,” in the first term of President Trump. On the first day of his presidency, the first thing he has his press secretary do is accuse the media of lying about the size of his inauguration crowd. Trump has explicitly called the media “the opposition party.” Last week, Trump incorrectly accused the media of intentionally choosing not to cover terror attacks. He has taken the term “fake news,” a term originally describing absolutely made up news stories, and used it to label CNN, and pretty much any media that doesn’t cover him favorably, as disreputable. He seems to get particularly defensive whenever the media covers his ties with Russia. Meanwhile, he has repeatedly complimented Fox News, an obviously right-leaning network, for their coverage.

Today’s Contentious Press Conference

In recent days, Trump has blamed the media for publishing leaks from the intelligence community that resulted in the resignation of Michael Flynn, Trump’s National Security Adviser. This culminated in a press conference today that was a mix of his usual (often incorrect) boasting and attacks on the media. Here are some notable excerpts (full transcript here):

QUESTION: But aren’t you — aren’t you concerned, sir, that you are undermining the people’s faith in the First Amendment, freedom of the press, the press in this country, when you call stories you don’t like “fake news”? Why not just say it’s a story I don’t like? TRUMP: See, I know when I should get good and when I should get bad. And sometimes I’ll say, “Wow, that’s going to be a great story.” And I’ll get killed. … So I understand it. So, because I’m there. I know what was said. I know who’s saying it. I’m there. So it’s very important to me. Look, I want to see an honest press. When I started off today by saying that it’s so important to the public to get an honest press. The press — the public doesn’t believe you people anymore. Now, maybe I had something to do with that. I don’t know. But they don’t believe you.

Here Trump is saying two important things. First, that his perspective on a situation is the only “real” interpretation of what happened, and anything else is “fake” or “unfair.” Second, he’s admitting that he “maybe” has something to do with the public not trusting the press. That’s the whole argument I’m making, so maybe I should have just quoted that and called it a day.

Another excerpt:

TRUMP: And I said to somebody that was in the room, I said “you take a look at Reince [Priebus], he’s working so hard just putting out fires that are fake fires.” I mean, they’re fake. They’re not true. And isn’t that a shame because he’d rather be working on healthcare, he’d rather be working on tax reform.

Trump’s unhappy that his administration has to deal with the fallout from the controversies he leaves in his wake, and is setting up the media for blame for the lack of progress on issues people actually care about.

One last excerpt, in a long response to a question about how Trump will respond to Putin’s recent provocations (a treaty-violating missile test and the placement of a Russian spy ship):

TRUMP: But I want to just tell you, the false reporting by the media, by you people, the false, horrible, fake reporting makes it much harder to make a deal with Russia. And probably Putin said ‘you know.’ He’s sitting behind his desk, and he’s saying ‘you know, I see what’s going on in the United States, I follow it closely. It’s going to be impossible for President Trump to ever get along with Russia because of all the pressure he’s got with this fake story.’ Okay?

In response to allegations that Trump is a Russian puppet, Trump is actually giving Putin a pass on his actions, because the media’s reporting makes a positive relationship impossible. Seriously.

So, here we are. We have a president who is a serial liar. He’s deeply connected to extraordinarily biased right-wing media websites and conspiracy theorists. And he has demonized and undermined the press, one of the most important institutions that we rely on to get truth from power.

We rely on them for the daily, mundane news. But most importantly, we rely on them to investigate the things that we can’t investigate ourselves. The things congress won’t investigate. The things Donald Trump won’t want us to know about. He wants to go straight to the people through Twitter and the scripted portions of his press conferences. And I doubt he’ll be tweeting about scandals or abuses of power.

Based on the social media bubbles people ensconced themselves in during the election, I have no doubt that his hardcore supporters believe every word he says and will disregard anything coming from the “mainstream” media. But for the rest of us, we need them badly. We can’t cave into the false notion that “everything is fake.” Yeah, the media isn’t perfect. Some sources are a little biased, some are very biased, and some are outright lying. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t good sources out there. Find them. Support them. Don’t let them be torn down.

Update 2/17/2017: The President of the United States just tweeted that the free press is the “enemy of the American People.”

This isn’t campaign rhetoric. This isn’t an extreme radio shock-jock. This is the President of the United States saying that major network news channels are the enemy of the American people. This is unpresidential, undemocratic, and un-American. Citizens, journalists, elected officials – anyone and everyone – needs to be standing up and saying loudly and clearly that this is not acceptable.

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