"Alternative Facts"

   Thus spake Kellyanne Conway when challenged about the size of the crowd witnessing the inauguration of Donald Trump as President.
   Trump has called it the largest crowd ever, and criticized the media for showing "an empty field."
   There are, of course, alternative sets of information that can be selectively chosen to bolster any given theory. And there are alternative realities in which differing theories may well exist.
   But in this reality, there are facts and there are opinions as to which set of facts are more important.
   When photographs show clearly that more people were gathered on the Mall in Washington for the inaugural of Barack Obama on January 20, 2009, than were assembled for the inauguration of Donald Trump, the only debatable point is the numerical total.
   One could argue, as Trump did, that a million and half people were watching, but that would be true only if one included the number of television viewers in the nation and around the world.
   That's one example of "alternative facts."
   Remember when Trump claimed that he was in Jersey City and he watched as thousands of people were dancing in the streets, celebrating as the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York came tumbling down? He may well have been in Jersey City, and was watching on television as people celebrated, but those streets were in Gaza, not in New Jersey.
   One can choose to believe what a person says, whether or not it conforms to fact, or one can choose reality.
   As Chico Marx put it, "Who you gonna believe, me or your own lying eyes?"
   Meanwhile, the contrast between Trumpian "fact" and journalistic reality has sharpened, and the feud between the Trumpians and reporters has escalated.
   The opening salvo in this continuing war of words came on Saturday, the first full day of Trump's presidential term, when press secretary Sean Spicer assailed reporters in his very first appearance in the White House Briefing Room, shown live on television.
   He read a statement in which he called reports of crowd sizes "dishonest" and "shameful," perpetrated by journalists he labeled as the most dishonest people on earth.
   And he invited the public to look at side by side pictures of the Mall on the two inauguration days, published in the New York Times, which he claimed would prove there were more people there for the Trump ceremony than for the Obama inauguration eight years ago.
   To be charitable, one might say he mislabeled the photos. Alternatively, one could say he was incompetent.
   Traditionally, the relationship between a presidential press secretary and journalists assigned to the White House has been informational, not confrontational.
   The press secretary would provide truthful information to reporters and answer questions to expand on or clarify any issue.
   But Spicer started his new job with sharp criticism of and an attack on those he's expected to work with on the job of conveying a President's message to the public.
   That's not a good way to start a new job.
  Spicer is not the boss, and he doesn't get to fire anyone in the press.
   Spicer warned reporters that the Trump administration "will hold you accountable" for what they do.
   And as he rightly pointed out, "That works both ways."
   It would be far better that both sides work together to provide truthful information to the public, rather than fight over "fact" and "alternative fact."
   The President and his staff have more important things to do than fight over minor details that pose no danger to American democracy.
   Trump has a long history of embellishing information so it reflects more favorably on his own views, regardless of whether that information is true. And he strikes back hard when anyone questions the veracity of what he says.
   But it's journalism's responsibility not only to report what is said, but also to to report opposing views and whether either conforms to fact or reality.