Pressing Issues

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." -- Harry Truman

   Members of the news media are doing a lot of soul searching these days about how they got distracted during the election campaign and wrongly predicted the results.
   It's true that Donald Trump resorted to personal attacks on those who disagreed with him, labeling any critical report "unfair," regardless of its accuracy.
   And he characterized as "weak" and "failing" any newspaper that published reports illustrating his failures in business as well as in personal relationships.
   But that was then. This is now. Donald Trump will be inaugurated January 20, and we will see whether, as President of the United States, he takes revenge on his adversaries.
   A reader of this blog has questioned whether we will "step back a bit, and give the man a fair and even opportunity" to prove us wrong, or to prove himself wrong.
   A proper question. But that does not mean that journalists in general, and our resident cynic Pug Mahoney, will back off and accept anything and everything Trump does as President.
   We can and do respect the office of President. That does not mean, however, that we must always respect the occupant of that office, much less agree with everything he says and does.  This has been true for Republican members of Congress the past eight years (almost) of Barack Obama's term in office. Senior GOP leaders in Congress spoke repeatedly of their intention to make him "a one term President," and they moved to block many of his programs at every turn.
   Meanwhile, the proper function of journalism is to monitor and report on the activities of elected officials, whether news media staffers agree with them or not.
   The bottom line is this: Donald Trump has been elected President of the United States, and will take the oath of office on January 20, 2017. Whether anyone likes that or not, it is the reality, and we face four years of rancor between Trump supporters in Congress and the general public, and stern opposition from others in Congress and among citizens.
   In the midst of all this will be reporters and editors of newspapers, magazines, television, radio and social media outlets, which now attract perhaps more readers than the traditional news media.
   Much depends, therefore, on the believability quotient of each of these media. Traditional media may have tarnished their image over the past year with what some say was overzealous reporting of Trump's flaws and insufficient emphasis on Hillary Clinton's shortcomings.
   But the reality is that many negative stories were printed and reported about each. At the end of the season, Trump won through to the White House, even with fewer votes than Clinton.
   Now the season is over, and the winner moves to the Big League stadium in Washington. Meanwhile, journalists will continue their tradition of monitoring and reporting the activities of elected officials, all the way up to and including the President of the United States.
   However, some of the proposals put forth by Trump the candidate were deemed so outrageous and dangerous by many observers that increased vigilance is called for.
   It has been said that "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." And regardless of who first spoke that phrase, it falls to a free press, as guaranteed by the First Amendment of America's Constitution, to be the monitors who keep that watchful eye.
   Otherwise, any attempt to "ease the libel laws," as Trump suggested, as a way to minimize criticism and "get lots of money," endangers the rights of citizens throughout the nation. And suppressing the news media would be the first step down that long road.