US press corps fights back with open letter to Trump: You won't set the rules for us

[babylonsister]

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/us-press-corps-fights-back-with-open-letter-to-trump-you-wont-set-the-rules-for-us/

US press corps fights back with open letter to Trump: You won’t set the rules for us
Erin Corbett
17 Jan 2017 at 16:55 ET


Kyle Pope, the editor in chief and publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review penned an open letter to President-elect Donald Trump on behalf of the U.S. Press Corps setting some clear ground rules moving forward.

“In these final days before your inauguration, we thought it might be helpful to clarify how we see the relationship between your administration and the American press corps,” the letter starts. Before writing up the list of eight demands, Pope offered background on Trump’s relationship with the media over the course of his campaign and since winning the election.

“You’ve banned news organizations from covering you. You’ve taken to Twitter to taunt and threaten individual reporters and encouraged your supporters to do the same. You’ve advocated for looser libel laws and threatened numerous lawsuits of your own, none of which has materialized,” Pope wrote.

“But while you have every right to decide your ground rules for engaging with the press, we have some, too.”

President Trump may no longer allow journalists to have access to him, but that’s OK, Pope argued, noting, “We are very good at finding alternative ways to get information … Telling reporters that they won’t get access to something isn’t what we’d prefer, but it’s a challenge we relish.”

Pope also noted that moving forward, Trump should expect U.S. journalists to work together. “We now recognize that the challenge of covering you requires that we cooperate and help one another whenever possible,” he wrote, citing Trump’s refusal to take a question from CNN reporter Jim Acosta at a press conference last Wednesday.

“So, when you shout down or ignore a reporter at a press conference who has said something you don’t like, you’re going to face a unified front,” Pope argued. “We’ll work together on stories when it makes sense, and make sure the world hears when our colleagues write stories of importance.”

But the biggest takeaway from Pope’s letter was a reclamation of journalism moving forward and a notice to the president-elect that journalists will no longer play by his rules. “We’ve been around since the founding of the republic, and our role in this great democracy has been ratified and reinforced again and again and again,” he wrote.

“Enjoy your inauguration.”

[Jacob Boehme]

1. God Bless the First Amendment!

It will be Trump's undoing.

[onetexan]

27. AMEN to that!!

[Roy Rolling]

89. At the risk of duplication. . .

Never pick a fight with a newspaper, they buy ink by the barrel.

[Maraya1969]

117. +100000

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

41. Unless he "undoes" it.

By that, I don't mean he'll get it repealed. But he may a well if the LE harrasses people for free speech or the judiciary doesn't uphold the right.

[eleny]

52. A president doesn't have the power to undo the U.S. Constitution

Check out how it can be amended: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/articleV.htm

[rtracey]

123. no

No but a dictatorial, narcissistic, sociopath like Fuckump, who believes he is royalty, believes he is the King of America, will lie the very second he takes the oath, swearing he will defend, and support the constitution.

[dalton99a]

2. About time.

[mcar]

3. I hope journalists read this

and agree.

[Cha]

105. Yeah, that was my thought, mcar.. I wish

they do put up a united front.

We know how some have liked to take on the role of stenographers in the past.

[FBaggins]

114. That's the question... isn't it?

I find it hard to believe that an organization that is getting access will reject it on behalf of another that isn't.

What I see is one minor publication (does the Columbia Journalism Review even have a seat in the press room?). How is that "the US Press Corps" fighting back?

[Maraya1969]

118. Maybe if they don't they will be excoriated by other "real news" and it will spread all over the

internet. He did say they were a "United front" and that means most of them. They can be creative in their punishment of severally inferior organizations.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Let's hope they really do those things instead of caving in,

sucking up to Trump to gain access, and peddling false equivalencies like they've been doing for months, no, years. If they've finally grown spines that would be terrific but I'm waiting for some solid evidence of that.

[spooky3]

16. agree n/t

[malaise]

5. Oh My

They put up with his shit for years

This should have been done during the primaries

[panader0]

42. If the press had been more true journalists during the primaries

we would be inaugurating a different POTUS on Friday. I hope that he press is
sufficiently embarrassed and ashamed to do what they are supposed to do:
tell the truth.

[malaise]

43. When he fails to show at their Correspondents' Dinner

they'll wake up

[GP6971]

55. I agree.

He has no sense of humor required for it nor can he take it. Although he could come out on the attack...it would put a real downer on the event.

[mobeau69]

108. He had them rolling in the ailes with laughter at the Al Smith dinner

Not! OMG that was painful to watch.

[pangaia]

60. it's just one guy.

if 'the press' actually follows suit I'll drink an entire bottle of Jamaican over-proof rum.

[malaise]

62. LOL - please don't

That'will kill yah

[tavalon]

97. Please don't

You're on the team. We don't need dead people on the team.

[pangaia]

99. LOL !!!!!!!!!!

Don't worry., Malaise warned me about that stuff....



But,, as fate would have it, I will be in St Petersburg, the REAL one, at the Mariinsky Theater Concert Hall RIGHT at the urination at 12:00 noon EST on Friday(7 PM Russian time)... watching an opera version of Dostoevsky's THE IDIOT !

So maybe afterward some vodka would be appropriate.

[tavalon]

100. Just make sure it isn't yellow

[MuseRider]

126. There is always vodka

there. After the ballet, after the circus in Moscow, after a boat ride (or during) or actually just about any time or where except in the museums. 😀 Enjoy. Sounds like fun. I really enjoyed our time in Russia.

[pangaia]

127. I have a photo of myself from Jan 1985 with 5 members of the then Leningrad Philharmonic

Last edited Wed Jan 18, 2017, 07:50 PM - Edit history (1)

and another American, after a concert, in the Europskaya Hotel across the street from the Leningrad Philharmonie, with 7 empty bottles of vodka on the table..

It was 25 below zero outside!!

I will not be posting the photo.
You will just have to take my word for it.

[MuseRider]

128. I believe it!

We had a great time there from what I can remember, although most of my problem was jet lag. I don't remember where we stayed, it was on the bay of Finland so we walked around there then took a ride through the canals at midnight because it was light as noon, it was cool but not COLD! 25 below, wow. I bet you never even felt that vodka.

Just don't eat the "ice cream" they sell at the Moscow Circus. You must know of it, I have not talked to anyone else who knows about it but it sounds like you have been around there enough.

[pangaia]

132. oh, yeah the ice cream kiosks in Moscow.

Of course. It was so cold that first time I was there the ice cream warmed me up.. plus it didn't melt.

LOL

[MuseRider]

134. I NEVER melts

ever. It was warm the day we went to the circus. My husband and both of my sons wanted some and of course we knew nothing about it. It was all a funny green color so we make jokes even today about it. When they got their ice cream and licked it they looked at me kinda funny and I had noticed the ice cream was just sitting there, all those cones in open air, no refrigeration at all. They ate it, said it was good but strange to eat warm but scoop shaped ice cream. I loved that trip.

[lunatica]

129. Can I join you?!

Or should I ask what over-proof means first?

[pangaia]

133. Over-proof... just use your imagination...HA HA...or ask malaise...,.

[MythosMaster]

6. Too little to late

should have done this BEFORE the election.

[babylonsister]

9. No, they need to hold his feet to the fire; better

late than never.

[justiceischeap]

75. I agree the press in general should have worked harder on exposing him

But the one group that I give much more credit to is the print press. There were some print journalists doing very good pieces that not many people talked about because we were too busy complaining about cable news.

I've vowed over the 4 years to ignore cable news and rely more on nightly news and print sources.

[NewJeffCT]

120. The print media did some great work

before the election - the Washington Post especially. The NY Times did some good work, as did Kurt Eichenwald at Newsweek. However, the print media has only a fraction of the impact they had back in the days of Nixon.

However, the televised media largely played cheerleader for Trump and their impact has grown significantly since the days of Nixon. Add that on top of social media and "fake" news and it's a toxic recipe.

We could see the greatest scandals ever unearthed reported in the WaPo and/or NY Times, but unless it penetrates onto the TV news world of Fox, CNN, MSNBC, and then into Facebook, Twitter, etc, it's not going to amount to the proverbial hill of beans.

[Rex]

7. So Trump is taking on the CIA and the M$M even before he steps into office?

They will eat him alive.

[Auntie Bush]

8. Let's hope and pray they will.

[EarthFirst]

17. On Monday, of course... n/t

[Rex]

91. Are they on Trump time?

Within 48 business hours.

[lastlib]

46. He isn't very good at making friends, is he?

It will be his undoing. In Washington, You. Need. Friends.

[LisaM]

49. You know, that is an excellent point.

He doesn't have friends, and he seems to eventually alienate those who were once his allies (so to speak, basically I mean people he does business with). He's got his zombie-like family, but that's it.

[Rex]

92. None. He thinks he can go it alone imo.

He has no idea how to make friends, I don't even think he likes his kids or wife.

[Cha]

106. Ergo snagging Paul Anka to sing "My Way" @ the inauguration

[Paladin]

10. I'll believe it, if and when I see it.

I've gotten so used to a mainstream media coddling and encouraging Trump throughout the campaign. Standing up to him is way the hell past-due---and I want to see examples of these newly-articulated principles in action, before I'm happy.

[ananda]

11. Same here.

So far, they've been pretty spineless.

[gratuitous]

21. I'm in that column

I've heard this before, and they still approach The Presence on bended knee. It may be in the common interest of the media to stand united with one another, but what happens the first time Trump offers someone an "exclusive"? Do they hang tough and decline, or will your eyeballs smoke watching how fast they skedaddle over to Trump Tower to get that one-on-one?

Magic 8 Ball says, "Get asbestos lenses for your glasses."

[uponit7771]

33. +1

[hibbing]

34. I'm with you

So the enablers now are all talking tough, pathetic.

Peace

[pangaia]

61. No. They are not. It is one guy.

[Dave Starsky]

78. Absolutely. US journalism has been dead for years.

Within hours of being humiliated by Trump at that joke of a press conference, CNN was suckng his dick like nothing ever happened.

[MarvinGardens]

90. I noticed a subtle shift on CNN's website today.

It's all about how chaotic his transition has been, how he's already causing international problems for us. I wonder if they are finally going after him.

[Hekate]

12. Excellent New Year's Resolution. "Enjoy your inauguration.... Enjoy your stay."

[myrna minx]

13. K&R

[ProudProgressiveNow]

14. K&R nt

[mopinko]

15. who fucking cares about access to someone who ONLY, EVER lies his ass off?

waste of damn time, now.

[Ligyron]

80. THIS EXACTLY

Everything out of Trump's mouth will be nothing but propaganda and fake news and he'll never answer any real questions anyway.

The truth will need to come out some other way.

[SHRED]

18. I must have missed something

I saw them all sitting there on their hands watching as DT belittled the reporter from CNN.

Where's this alleged "unified front"??

[Dustlawyer]

25. I think they confered about that very thing and realized Trump will be coming for each

of them if they try to do their job. It is a matter of self-preservation.

Many here voiced the same things that are in this letter and were spot on! They are better off just investigating him and his peeps, Trump they know by now only tells lies.

This is great news, I hope Trump's head blew off when he got this letter. I just wish they had agreed to stop covering his damn tweets!

[pangaia]

63. I don't think this is news at all.

I don't think "THEY" talked about anything.

This is just one guy. Unless I am greatly mistaken.

[volstork]

19. Glad to see this, but

if they had done this 18 months ago, we wouldn't be in the god-forsaken mess we are in now. The media had the power to snuff his candidacy out from the beginning, but put profit above all else-- even the well-being of the country.

[kairos12]

20. Too late to the party. He already beat the press with his twitter account. They have no

credibility. They are probably still harping on about HRC's emails.

[babylonsister]

22. Do you think his tweets have credibility?

All I see are people laughing at them.

[kairos12]

23. Absolutely not. But the press takes the bait off his twitter account and that becomes the 24 hour

news cycle. In depth reporting gets sidelined because the MSM is chasing Drumpt's latest inflammatory tweet. Drumpt knows this and I think that's one of reasons why he does it.

[llmart]

40. I'd like to rec your post a thousand times...

I fear this is what the "news" will primarily consist of for the next however many years/months/days this sociopath is in office. We are totally being played by him and the MSM. I just wish we'd wake up and realize that there's nothing funny about this. Even the SNL sketches about him I don't find funny any more, even if they are clever.

I'm too old to find any of this funny. This is serious stuff we're dealing with here and the sooner we all stop laughing at his tweets and come together to find ways to block his every action, we'll maybe keep the damage the Repugs do to our country to a minimum.

[lastlib]

50. And we CANNOT just focus on tRump! While he's grabbing the attention...

...with his ridculous antics, the Repuglikans in Congress are CLEANING. OUR. CLOCKS!!! While defeating tRump and tRumpism is important, we CANNOT take our eyes off the cabal of idiots in Congress who are doing the real dirty deeds to our people. It's the classic shell game, and losing it will be disastrous! And they're masters of it!

[llmart]

71. Absolutely!

We need to keep the damage to a minimum and work on regaining the House.

[BumRushDaShow]

24. I don't know why they bother

They should have set the tone at the beginning of the primaries with him. They certainly did so for the Democratic candidates, who not only had no chance to even get a word in edgewise when it came to real policy issues, but who were instead treated to a continual stream of fake news, spread by self-same media, that originated from known RW CT sites.

The minute his twitter machine barks at them, they will cower in the corner and will then find ways to accommodate his holy terrorness.

They created him, they fed and nurtured him, he is THEIRS.

[pangaia]

68. There is no THEY THERE.. It is ONE GUY !!!!!!!!

Everybody, SOMEHOW, seems to miss this little fact.

THEY ain't gonna do shit.

[BumRushDaShow]

107. As a note that I think you miss

is that the Columbia's "School of Journalism" is the equivalent to how UPenn's Wharton School of Business is noted for its business programs and graduates, how Harvard/Yale Law Schools are noted for their curriculum and resultant lawyers, how MIT/Stanford are noted for their engineers, and how Johns Hopkins is noted for its physicians.

I.e., they were/are considered the "pinnacle" school within the "journalistic world" (whatever is left of it) and were once heralded for shaping generations of reporters and investigative journalists, and for developing and setting the style for print and broadcast journalism that we see today (which has since plummeted into the lazy and perverse over the past couple decades).

I.e., the "one guy" who you focus on is the equivalent in the journalism world, to the Editor of the Harvard Law Review in the legal world.

I don't disagree with it being impossible for a single writer to "speak for all", but I think you all missed the symbolism of the source.

[Solly Mack]

26. We'll see.

[benld74]

28. Found backbones or buying kneelers

We shall see

[marybourg]

29. Not sure what "on behalf of"

actually means here. No one else signed it but him; there's no evidence that anyone else from the press corps even saw it, let alone approved it. So I think it's a letter from one person and the "on behalf" is in his own mind.

[pangaia]

59. Exactly my point in another thread on the same topic.

How can this obvious fact fly over so many heads?

It's one person....

[marybourg]

64. Yes, I responded in the other thread also,

but you and I seem to be the only two who've noticed this point.

[pangaia]

65. Amazing, is it not..

[marybourg]

67. Oui, oui. nt

[mountain grammy]

30. Better late than never.. but I've having a trust issue with the media

after they got trump elected and all.

[pangaia]

69. it is NOT the "MEDIA.." It is ONE GUY.

Everybody seems to miss that while jumping for joy....

[Squinch]

31. A lot of comments saying "we'll see" (which I agree with) and "too little too late" (which I don't

necessarily agree with).

Yes, I'll believe it when I see it, but if I see it I will be ecstatic. I've already subscribed to a number of publications that are doing real reporting, when I've never subscribed before.

And the too little too late: I agree that the press was HORRIBLE in this election and for many years before. But I think if we are very very diligent about rewarding those who actually are doing a good job, we will see more of them doing their jobs. Rewarding them with eyes, ad revenue and subscriptions. Writing to those who are throwing out bullshit and false equivalencies.

I think we need to manage and train the press, just like its a little puppy. Reward it when it does what we want, punish it when it doesn't. If we do that, I think it will eventually stop peeing on the carpet.

[stopwastingmymoney]

103. Yes, I think you're right with this approach

And thanks for reminding me, I've been meaning to subscribe to the NY Times

[Squinch]

124. And Mother Jones too! $1 a month, and they are breaking all the Trump news 3 months

before everyone else catches up.

(I have nothing to do with them. Just a grateful subscriber.)

And click daily on BuzzFeed too!

[jumptheshadow]

115. You are point on here.

We must support good journalism and especially the print media that produces solid on-line websites. I subscribe to the New York Times and have added the Washington Post. The Guardian is next. Vanity Fair has always had exceptional features and photography. They are doing excellent work during the Trump era.

We need the solid professionalism of old print media reporting standards, especially in the age of shallow Matt Lauer sound-bit journalism.

I had a colleague at a newspaper once who did a skillful job covering a local beat. He knew all the players well, had their back stories, understood the nuanced (and not-so-nuanced) politics simmering in the background of his beat, and wrote intelligent and readable articles. He used to laugh about the local TV news reporters. He said they would show up for a big story, ask him what was going on, and then repeat a summary of his information to their viewership.

The print media has been on life support, but we need its reporting standards more than ever.

[Squinch]

125. Exactly. We have allowed ourselves a diet of Kardashians for too long ("we" as a general idea.)

Those of us who are thinking members of the Democracy have to keep ourselves educated and informed about that Democracy, and we need to support the ones who are educating and informing us.

[nolabear]

32. This is very good news. Stand up for yourselves and us!

[pangaia]

70. It is ONE GUY... not 'the press.'

[canetoad]

35. Well done Kyle Pope, K&R

Here is the actual letter.

An open letter to Trump from the US press corps

Dear Mr. President Elect:

In these final days before your inauguration, we thought it might be helpful to clarify how we see the relationship between your administration and the American press corps.

It will come as no surprise to you that we see the relationship as strained. Reports over the last few days that your press secretary is considering pulling news media offices out of the White House are the latest in a pattern of behavior that has persisted throughout the campaign: You’ve banned news organizations from covering you. You’ve taken to Twitter to taunt and threaten individual reporters and encouraged your supporters to do the same. You’ve advocated for looser libel laws and threatened numerous lawsuits of your own, none of which has materialized. You’ve avoided the press when you could and flouted the norms of pool reporting and regular press conferences. You’ve ridiculed a reporter who wrote something you didn’t like because he has a disability.

All of this, of course, is your choice and, in a way, your right. While the Constitution protects the freedom of the press, it doesn’t dictate how the president must honor that; regular press conferences aren’t enshrined in the document.

But while you have every right to decide your ground rules for engaging with the press, we have some, too. It is, after all, our airtime and column inches that you are seeking to influence. We, not you, decide how best to serve our readers, listeners, and viewers. So think of what follows as a backgrounder on what to expect from us over the next four years.

Continued here:
http://www.cjr.org/covering_trump/trump_white_house_press_corps.php

[JI7]

36. when it comes to tv media he has been doing it already

[dem4decades]

37. "The basis of our governments ...

being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them." --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787. ME 6:57

http://famguardian.org/subjects/politics/thomasjefferson/jeff1600.htm

[madokie]

38. I'm starting to see it in our local rag

the tulsa world

[flags]

39. proud

WOW! Thats great, I suddenly have a greater respect for the press.

[pangaia]

72. Unless I am wrong, this is just ONE GUY....

It is NOT 'the press.'

[First Speaker]

44. I feel about Trump/MSM like I do about the Nazi-Soviet war...

...obviously, one of the combatants is the aggressor, and one the victim. Obviously, one is our ally, and we must go to their aid. But that doesn't mean they are, in and of themselves, worth a bucket of warm piss.

[kpete]

45. best news of the day

!!!!!!!!!!!

[oberliner]

47. Unfortunately, none of this is actually going to happen

“So, when you shout down or ignore a reporter at a press conference who has said something you don’t like, you’re going to face a unified front.”

That, for example, is definitely not true.

[pangaia]

73. Right. They will face ONE GUY.. the guy who wrote this...

[nadine_mn]

48. What exactly is the US Press Corps?

Is it an official thing? I mean it's about damn time - esp the part about the distrust in media being a wake up call but who makes up the Press Corps?vcc

[pangaia]

74. Right. This is one guy talking- Kyle Pope.

it is not 'THE press corp."

[babylonsister]

131. Well, that required a simple google...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Press_Club_(United_States)

National Press Club (United States)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A meeting at the National Press Club

The National Press Club is a professional organization and business center for journalists and communications professionals. It is located in Washington, D.C. Its membership consists of journalists, former journalists, government information officers, and those considered to be regular news sources. It has gatherings with invited speakers from public life as well as a venue open to the public to host business meetings, news conferences, industry gatherings and social events.

[muntrv]

51. Too bad the press corps didn't have that attitude during the election.

[world wide wally]

53. I still think talk is cheap.

Let's see going forward

[.99center]

54. Think they'll remember this letter a year from now at the next press conference?

The press is part of the prop, much like the blank paper inside the binders.

Amazing that no one exposed the obvious sham to his supporters that were watching. They were so giddy to tweet about the blank papers but didn't dare to tear down the bubble that they built around Trump and his supporters.

[pangaia]

76. Of course they won't. THEY won't remember anything because THEY didn't write it.

One guy wrote it and signed it "The Press Corp."

[democrank]

56. Let's hope the U.S. Press Corps

stands firm on upholding their new ground rules. If the press does manage to maintain a "unified front" , they could combat Trump's lies and authoritarianism with a very effective barricade.

[Raven123]

57. It would be a lot more interesting to simply do what they propose rather than announce it.

Now everyone will watch the press and DT posturing, and parse every blink of an eye.

[tenderfoot]

58. Meh...

eom

[Duppers]

66. WOW!! K & R

To the naysayers on this thread, at least this is something - statements to be held up and admired.


We know who the outliers will be, of course.

[pangaia]

77. Yes. it IS something. And it is right.

Unfortunately it seems it is one person, Kyle Pope, writing it and signing it, "The Press Corp."

[DeminPennswoods]

85. No, the press corps had a big gathering

It was reported on MSNBC that the WH press corps had a big powwow on how to handle Trump. I'd guess this letter is a result of that meeting. CJR is independent, so it makes sense for them to write the open letter to Trump.

[pangaia]

86. Well, if that is the case and the 'press corp' really feels this way,

the I stand corrected in all my posts.

I still will wait to see what they actually do.

Thanks,

[wordpix]

111. MSM beefed up their WH press pool, too

a WH correspondent told me that any given org has 1-2 people but is beefing up staff to 8 or 9 EACH. Then Dump says he will pick and choose who can stay at his pressers. I'm sure MSM is now pissed if they weren't already.

[DeminPennswoods]

119. The press wants another political scalp badly

since they got Nixon's in '74. They tried for 30 years to get one from Bill and Hill, but failed. Now they have one practically putting itself in their hands. The media/press must be licking their chops.

[Mc Mike]

79. Good. Take it to the man, US Press. Do the US proud.

Anyone remember that fake controversy the press ginned up about how Prez Obama was oppressing Fox "News", in '09?

I'm glad they're getting their act together.

[Ligyron]

81. Well, when the hell will he ever hold another press conference anyway?

we'll get Spicer once in awhile and that will be about it.

[Lifelong Protester]

82. I hope others follow him.

It may be one guy, but does he have any 'clout' with other members of the press? If so, good. But if not...

[Equinox Moon]

83. "Enjoy your inauguration."

That sounds like, "Kiss my ass!"

[DeminPennswoods]

84. I'm sorry, but this is great news

Trump basically issued a challenge to the press/media. They will relish the chance finally, truly, to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable". The USS Trump has so many factions and is so corrupt already, it will leak like a sieve as the knives come out from all the competing camps in Trumpworld. Stories will write themselves. Pulitzer Prize material will be abundant for any journalist willing to do a little digging.

The other day MSNBC had a panel of journalists on. They said the exact same thing and Toure' made a point to say the press can't ask any multi-part questions, they have to be short, succinct and solitict answers (like yes or no) that will clearly show where Trump stands.

I personally hope the press is booted out its digs in the WH because I think when you are located in or on the premises of the person you are supposed to be covering, you end up getting too cozy with the president's staff and briefers. A little distance isn't a bad thing at all, imho.

[Stinky The Clown]

87. Action talks. Bullshit walks.

Until the fucking worthless media DOES SOMETHING, this sort of intellectual posturing is just that - intellectual posturing. Professional navel gazing. Belly Button Masturbation.

The media has a massive debt to repay American democracy. They fucking OWE us.

[LittleBlue]

88. The press corp showed me all I needed to see when they stood by

while Acosta was humiliated. The letter an encouraging sentiment for journalists, but many of these reporters aren't really journalists, they're just people doing the bidding of corporations and advancing their careers.

We watched as they stood by and kissed ass for most of the 8 Bush years, don't expect any different with Trump.

[BobTheSubgenius]

93. Magnificent!

[Paula Sims]

94. Who is surprised by this??

Geez people - too busy sucking up to him to see this? Read Esop's parables of the turtle and the scorpion.

[Amaryllis]

95. The Raw STory link doesn't have the entire letter, which further explains and has some excellent

stuff:
http://www.cjr.org/covering_trump/trump_white_house_press_corps.php
Columbia Journalism Review
Kyle Pope is the Editor in Chief and Publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review.

"We decide how much airtime to give your spokespeople and surrogates. We will strive to get your point of view across, even if you seek to shut us out. But that does not mean we are required to turn our airwaves or column inches over to people who repeatedly distort or bend the truth. We will call them out when they do, and we reserve the right, in the most egregious cases, to ban them from our outlets.

We believe there is an objective truth, and we will hold you to that. When you or your surrogates say or tweet something that is demonstrably wrong, we will say so, repeatedly. Facts are what we do, and we have no obligation to repeat false assertions; the fact that you or someone on your team said them is newsworthy, but so is the fact that they don’t stand up to scrutiny. Both aspects should receive equal weight.

We’ll obsess over the details of government. You and your staff sit in the White House, but the American government is a sprawling thing. We will fan reporters out across the government, embed them in your agencies, source up those bureaucrats. The result will be that while you may seek to control what comes out of the West Wing, we’ll have the upper hand in covering how your policies are carried out.

We will set higher standards for ourselves than ever before. We credit you with highlighting serious and widespread distrust in the media across the political spectrum. Your campaign tapped into that, and it was a bracing wake-up call for us. We have to regain that trust. And we’ll do it through accurate, fearless reporting, by acknowledging our errors and abiding by the most stringent ethical standards we set for ourselves.

We’re going to work together. You have tried to divide us and use reporters’ deep competitive streaks to cause family fights. Those days are ending. We now recognize that the challenge of covering you requires that we cooperate and help one another whenever possible. So, when you shout down or ignore a reporter at a press conference who has said something you don’t like, you’re going to face a unified front. We’ll work together on stories when it makes sense, and make sure the world hears when our colleagues write stories of importance. We will, of course, still have disagreements, and even important debates, about ethics or taste or fair comment. But those debates will be ours to begin and end.

We’re playing the long game. Best-case scenario, you’re going to be in this job for eight years. We’ve been around since the founding of the republic, and our role in this great democracy has been ratified and reinforced again and again and again. You have forced us to rethink the most fundamental questions about who we are and what we are here for.

[tavalon]

96. Well, better late than never

We need a fourth estate with an iron spine.

[mvd]

102. That is what I was going to say

Great minds think alike

But where was the press during the primaries and election? They tried to normalize Trump. With all Trump's more serious baggage, they focused on the Clinton e-mails. They didn't dig in and ask Trump real policy questions. So I will believe it when I see it. It is a big relief if true.

[AgadorSparticus]

98. Well said!!! It makes me want to cry tears of joy to see the press stand up and show

Even a modicum of journalistic integrity. It has been so lacking lately. Any bit is appreciated.

[Thekaspervote]

101. Oh that is the best news!

Althou I'm sure I'm not the first to say or think that, I've said, and wondered out loud why does the press corps bother with him? They are never going to have the truth, any respect or fairness from that jerk, so just don't go to his "press conferences" using that term very loosely. What the journalists would then print using sources, would be a lot better news and closer to the truth.

ADDED bonus ....just imagine that he does call a presser and no one shows up. Oh the twitter tantrums. Go tell it to Facebook or twitter you creep!!!!

[Cha]

104. dump: "note to self.. send off insulting tweets to Kyle Pope..

how dare he?!!!!!"



Mahalo, babylonsister~

[NewJeffCT]

121. that's pretty damn accurate

This was a favorite of mine:

[66 dmhlt]

109. They misspelled their final sentence ...

“Enjoy your inauguration.”

Believe it should read:

Enjoy urinauguration

[wordpix]

110. hooray they will cooperate - I am now sending interesting articles to

my favorite reporters, anchors and congress people. Last I sent was about how Trump was bailed out of his 7th bankruptcy by Russian crime bosses.

Never hurts to send these things along via twitter

[lillypaddle]

112. Oh please

let it be true.

[montanto]

113. That is heartening, thanks for sharing.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

116. GOOD!

I need as much good news as I can get.

Thanks, sister!

[calimary]

122. We'll see.

We'll just have to see.

I remain skeptical.

Sounds good. But how many of 'em will cave because OMG they CAN'T lose their ACCESS!!!!!!! (Cue the sound of pearl-clutching and fainting on the fainting couch.)

When I was still working at the AP, there was this problem that had gone on for quite awhile and was only getting worse. Radio was treated like the bastard-child of the press. It was not just "back of the bus for you guys," sometimes there wasn't even a bus! TV got front-row treatment. I worked for an outfit that had 1500 radio members and literally THOUSANDS of newspapers - both here in the U.S. and across the world. It was the Associated Press forcryingoutloud. EVERYBODY took our stuff in one way or another. EVERYBODY. So you'd think an Associated Press reporter with that kind of coverage would get a front row seat. Wrong. I was with lowly radio. So I had to take whatever crumbs were thrown at radio in general. ABC Radio. Syndicated radio networks galore. Westwood One. CBS Radio. At the time, Armed Forces Radio, the Mutual Radio Network, the RKO Radio Network, and more. We radio-folks were all shoved to the back of the room, so the "Today" show and "Entertainment Tonight" and "Good Morning America" - and then also People, and Premiere and other glossy magazines, the LA Times Calendar section, and TV Guide could step forward and get the one-on-one interviews. They could offer splashy, fawning on-camera coverage and front pages. All we had, basically, was in people's cars.

We were "just" radio. Lowly radio. The bastard child. The children of a lesser God. The Cinderella who DIDN'T have a fairy godmother, or even a squadron of loyal mice friends like in the movie. We NEVER got one-on-one access to the lead actors in the cast. We'd ask and ask, nag and pester and call, and it never worked. They'd throw us supporting players, writers, producers. SOMETIMES, a director - if he or she wasn't an A-lister. We were always given the new unknown in the cast, but NOT the Tom Cruise/Tom Hanks/Harrison Ford/Sean Connery/Mel Gibson/Bruce Willis/Meryl Streep/Goldie Hawn/Sharon Stone (after "Basic Instinct" had made her a star)/Nicole Kidman (only in her debut film before she, too, became a big star)/Cybill Shepherd (after "Moonlighting" made HER a huge star)-level big-name lead stars. If we WERE able to get one of the big names, it was only via junket, or roundtable interviews, or press conference, where you had a big gang-bang of reporters shouting questions, or (at the roundtables where you may have been one of eight or ten reporters trying to get questions in), some print guy would invariably be interrupting the answers to those questions all the time with "mm-hmm" and "mm-hmm" and laughing and fucking up the soundbite. And in settings like that, there was NEVER enough time to get all your questions in, particularly when there was some controversy going on about the project OR the actor/actress - that would provoke the kind of questioning said subject would rather not have to answer.

We in radio got the idea - "let's start a boycott." The whole "if you ignore or neglect or mistreat one of us, we will ALL respond in kind. You give us ALL access, or you don't get any of us." Sounded great! Might solve the problem, finally, and let us hind-teat radio people get our fair share, without having to beg and plead and then try to be satisfied with crumbs from the table, at long last. We were all excited! This could really work! Especially if our TV brothers and sisters got behind us. What clout this would have! Man-oh-man, THIS would surely stop that bullshit. We were fucking TIRED of the hind-teat treatment. We were the ones who were routinely left standing outside in the rain, while the "important" people were shown to nice warm, dry, comfortable seats inside. THIS strategy was a GREAT idea! It would surely bring us one, to stop that shit.

So I took it to our news editor, the head guy at AP's L.A. bureau - where we radio people and all the print-side people and photo people worked. He looked at me, aghast. "Oh, we CAN'T do that! We CAN'T. We can't afford to miss those things." Okay, so you're not going to stand in solidarity WITH YOUR OWN PEOPLE - (um... RADIO PEOPLE Too??? HELLO????)??? If the AP had done that, as big and prominent and far-reaching and respectable and credible as the AP was, we might have made our point and solved the problem. Or at the very least, would have gone a long way toward solving the problem or AT LEAST making some changes.

So, yeah. We'll see. Color me skeptical. And, quite cynical. Sounds like one for the "Yeah, SUUUUURE" file. It's been my experience that nobody's gonna want to risk their own individual access to help the collective. I expect this effort to hold - for about 20-minutes. Half-hour, tops. And they'll be back whoring for access faster than you can say "journalistic credibility." It's every-man-for-himself/every-woman-for-herself in that scrum.

We'll see. I'm not gonna hold my breath.

[lunatica]

130. Not a minute too friggin soon if you ask me!