Columnists

Interesting times

When Donald Trump calls reporters and editors "the most dishonest human beings on earth," it's worth remembering that Thomas Jefferson, in his second inaugural address, accused the press of engaging in "falsehood and defamation" while covering his administration.

So presidential hostility toward the press is hardly new. Still, Trump has cultivated a new level of acrimony and seems determined to make the White House/press relationship the most adversarial in well over four decades.

I covered the White House a little bit and directed coverage for two big news organizations over almost 20 years. It's important to have good reporters chronicle the history that presidents make every day. But the most important reporting is not done inside 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. That's what reporters should remember in the heat of battles over the size of inauguration crowds, belligerent tweets and threats to shut down the White House press room.

It wasn't the White House press corps that uncovered the Watergate and Iran-contra scandals, or exposed President Bill Clinton's tryst with Monica Lewinsky.

That's the fear articulated chillingly by John Dean, the White House counselor in the Nixon administration, in a must-read interview in the Atlantic last week with McKay Coppins. Dean, who helped reveal the extraordinary abuses of power that led to the Watergate scandal, says that Trump possesses many of Nixon's worst traits--vengefulness, insecurity and consuming ambition--but with few of Nixon's strengths.

The big stuff is what makes difficult times interesting for journalists and reminds us why we signed up for the job.

Editorial on 01/24/2017

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