Caffeinated Politics

On Friday, when I read that Donald Trump had banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from accessing the White House, I instantly thought of how President Richard Nixon ordered reporters from The Washington Post to be kept out of daily press briefings. I need not write that The Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein published reports about the illegal Watergate break-in and cover-up. History shows what happened

I am not sure why Trump thinks in a functioning democracy news stories and journalists’ accounts are to be designed to meet the approval of its leaders. Maturity and reason among the governing class should be at a level where tolerating unfaltering news does not cause tantrums. Trump has never been able to accept accountability for his actions. Everyone has let him push his way through. The nation is now witnessing what happens when an administration decides it will only admit reporters whose work makes the president smile. But at that point, reporters would no longer be engaged in journalism. After all, curating applause is not why they entered their profession.

History proves my case.

During the Watergate era, Nixon tried a similar tactic, stripping intrepid reporters of access so as to starve unwelcome reporting of oxygen. It was a petty and plainly stupid move then, and it remains that way as we view it in the rearview mirror. The ban didn’t stop Woodward and Bernstein; it simply confirmed they were digging in the right place. They kept working, kept ferreting out information, and kept presenting the nation with the uncomfortable truth of what was happening inside its own government. Their reporting did not make Nixon smile. It would only aid in forcing his hand to resign.

That is the essential point. Journalism’s job is not to flatter power but to witness it. To inform the nation about what their government is doing in their name. When Trump welcomes only agreeable coverage, he is not inviting us to know the truth but seeking insulation from it.  MAGA does not understand it, but that insulation is dangerous. It encourages the belief that reality can be managed by restricting who can observe it. But history proves that truth has never been controlled that way. It has a habit of slipping past barricades, finding new routes, and reaching the public whether the powerful approve or not.  Just like water will find its way to the basement no matter how many protections are placed to block its entry, so it is with truth.

When reporters are barred from the press room or the White House because their stories sting, the public loses more than access. It loses the assurance that its government is willing to be transparent.  The Trump White House is attempting to shape reality by limiting who may report on it.  That not only sends a stark message that it grossly misunderstands the role of the press.  But it sends a stark message that it does not trust the public to be informed. 

The bottom line is clear. And most people can grasp it. The press is not there to soothe. It is there to verify. To challenge. To publish what is true, not what is comfortable. Leaders may not enjoy that. They are not required to.  But before they get to elected office, we should require that they be mature enough to accept the facts.

Donald Trump has revealed to us why journalism is necessary.  What we should be concerned about is that he did not already understand the lesson from Watergate.  Denying access does not stop journalism.    I suspect Trump learns that lesson before the year is over.