Journalists play better offense than defense. Give them the ball, and
they’ll sleuth out the hidden crumbs of information, filling the
scoreboard with touchdowns. Assign them to a dangerous story, and
they’ll exhibit the bravery associated with U.S. Marines. Ask them to
work late, and they’ll labor all night and file copy at dawn, rat-eyed
from exhaustion yet happy and ready for the next story.
But criticize them and ask them to justify what they do and how they
do it? They go all go all whiny and preachy, wrap themselves in the
First Amendment and proclaim that they’re essential to democracy. I
won’t dispute that journalists are crucial to a free society, but just
because something is true doesn’t make it persuasive. The chords that
aggrieved journalists strike make them sound as entitled as tenured
professors. This behavior was on display last Friday after President
Donald Trump disparaged the press at CPAC and on Twitter. Later that day, Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, amplified the CPAC insult by excluding CNN, Politico, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and others from an off-camera briefing . . . . . MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski demanded
that the press boycott the White House Correspondents’ Association
dinner “until the White House’s abhorrent behavior towards members of
the press stops.” Her Morning Joe co-host, Joe Scarborough, likewise insisted, “All news organizations must refuse to attend briefings where major outlets are excluded because of critical coverage.”
Notes: The remainder of this article is worth reading. The author sees the press playing into the hands of the Trump Administration. I mean, does anyone seriously think that by boycotting Administration pressers, President Trump will be repented or even disappointed. Good grief. Of course not. In fact, it is Trump who has walked away from the coming Correspondent's Dinner, and, his absence will hurt the ratings for that dinner. I mean, what fun is there in roasting someone who is not there.
