Watchdogs in the Wolfpack

Did those political windbags think no one would notice? -- Pug Mahoney

   Politicians often say one thing to satisfy their base voters but do another to repay their donors.
   Media watchdogs, meanwhile, track what the politicians say and compare it to what they do. And every time it happens, the politicians seem surprised, if not astonished, when confronted with their contradictions.
   When will they learn that this is what journalists do? They watch, listen and remember, then pounce when the politician wanders from the straight and narrow and stumbles into a trap of his own making, surrounded by his own mistakes, misbehaviors and lies.
   And rather than acknowledge, admit and apologize for their misdeeds, they get defensive, deny, double down and attack those who expose them, as if the reporters are the liars.
   Sound familiar? There's nothing new here, except that the New Guy in Washington is more flagrant in his denials and accusations, accompanied by his devoted acolytes.
   One major consequence of the example the New Guy sets is that he drags his herd of followers down to his level and into the same corner of shameless lying that brought him to where he is.
   How did this happen? Largely because the watchdogs in the media noticed what was going on and spread the news. Hearing this (or sniffing the stench of a good story), others joined the pack and gleefully joined in, happily howling, growling and snapping at the cornered target.
   However much criticism there is of the practice of wolfpack journalism, the result is that the public learns of the attitudes and misdeeds of the political partisans who misuse and abuse the system for their own profit, at the expense of the citizenry at large.
   The metaphorical bottom line remains that the public as well as conscientious prosecutors finally learn of the political, legal and moral  malpractice of the politicians and act accordingly.
   The argument can readily be made that politicians should not behave that way to begin with, which is true. Nevertheless, they persist in doing what they do, regardless of law, morality or conscience. And it's the responsibility of a free press to document and report what politicians say and do. When they say and do well, that is reported. But when errant politicians say and do things harmful to national values, journalists raise a howl of alarm, and others join the pack, tracking down and cornering them.
   This is how the system works, and the freedom of the journalistic pack to expose those who endanger the system is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution.
   While the U.S. may have been the first country to put that guarantee in writing, the reality is that other nations also have that tradition, and it's spreading.
   Demagogues and would-be dictators beware: The journalistic pack is watching.