Media Lockout

The first step on the road to dictatorship is control of a free press.

   The White House took another step Friday in its campaign to punish news outlets for running stories the president doesn't like. Or should we say the Whine House?
   Using the excuse of insufficient room in press secretary Sean Spicer's office for many reporters, five major news organizations were banned from the small briefing, called a "gaggle." The five were the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, BuzzFeed News and Politico. At the same time, reporters for several other small organizations sympathetic to the president's views, including Breitbart News, One America News Network and The Washington Times, were allowed in.
   In protest, pool reporters for The Associated Press and Time magazine refused the invitation to attend.
   Earlier in the day, the president spoke to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and mounted another attack on what he call "dishonest" media that carry "fake news" citing anonymous sources. He insisted that sources should be identified in news stories.
   The president has attacked in the past major news outlets, and during the election campaign has ejected or sidelined reporters from several organizations.
   In his CPAC speech, the president defended his earlier criticism of the press as being "the enemy of the people," claiming the referred only to those organizations that publish what he called "fake news."
   He did not define what might be called "truthful news," nor did he identify those in the media who qualified for that category. However, he has been known to praise conservative-leaning outlets that are sympathetic to his views. Generally, his attacks are aimed at major mainstream publications and broadcast channels that are relatively neutral in their coverage, but make a special point of exposing untruths, half-truths, misleading claims and other comments that are egregiously wrong.