President Donald Trump (pictured above right) and other members of his administration are often criticized for their questionable treatment of the press. Such incidents reflect negatively on his already problematic presidency (Joyce N. Boghosian/Creative commons).
Presidential press conferences have become a battleground in the past year, specifically within the past week. Videos of altercations between the press, Trump and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders have circulated around social media and news organizations. These incidents do not help the reputation of on an already controversial presidential administration.
Most recently, Trump got into a public argument with CNN’s Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta at a press conference on Nov. 7. The argument itself and reactions by the Trump administration demonstrate blatant hypocrisy and violate the freedom of the press.
Acosta attempted to challenge Trump on some of his comments. After Trump argued with him, declined to give him a full answer and even insulted him, a White House intern attempted to take Acosta’s microphone away, according to CNN. This resulted in an accidental contact between the reporter and intern’s arms.
Sanders posted an obviously doctored video on her Twitter account that made Acosta look like he forcibly touched the intern’s arms when it was just an accident. This video, alongside the text that accompanied it, represents an extremely hypocritical stance by the administration.
“President Trump believes in a free press and expects and welcomes tough questions of him and his administration,” Sanders wrote. “We will, however, never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern.”
Firstly, it is incredibly ridiculous for the Trump administration to claim that producing “fake news” is abhorrent when they themselves produced fake news through this altered video.
It is also not true that Trump believes in free press or criticism towards his administration. If that were true, he would not claim that anything critical about him in the media is false. Additionally, he would not have argued with Acosta or silenced him if he actually wanted to be challenged personally or on anything in his administration.
Furthermore, the White House took away Acosta’s press access and has threatened other reporters. These actions, along with Trump and Sanders’s inability to accept criticism, is in violation of the freedom of the press.
Acosta and other reporters have not done anything against the Trump administration nor against anyone in it. They are simply just trying to defend themselves when attacked by Huckabee Sanders and Trump for questioning their ridiculous comments.
Additionally, it is ironic for the White House to claim that they will “never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman.” To side with a woman who was not assaulted, and instead take stances against women like Christine Blasey Ford and support a man who has claimed he likes to grab women “by the pussy,” is incredibly distasteful.
It is also cowardice to try and act ‘holier than thou’ when Acosta was obviously not doing anything wrong; it was just an accident. If they really cared about a man inappropriately touching a woman, Trump or any of the members in his cabinet would have spoken out about many of Trump’s abysmal actions toward women or against sexual assault in general.
It is apparent that the Trump administration cares about its reputation above all else. The doctored video and violations of freedom of the press is a threat to our democratic society. The denial of criticism and attacking of reporters almost seems like the seeds of a totalitarian society.
The people, whether press or citizens, are meant to question their government; if they cannot do that, then their democratic rights are largely in peril.
It is right that CNN and many others, including conservative journalists, have stood against the Trump administration in this respect and with Acosta instead. Additionally, it is a significant step that CNN has decided to sue the White House for this violation of the freedom of press, according to CNN.
The Trump administration is far from perfect—not to say any other preceding presidential administration has been—but it is the duty of the press and the people to question the actions of their government. If the press is not able to do so, the future will be a very scary place.