COMPLIMENTARY COPY
Recognizing Local Residents During Military Appreciation Month
Lee Shimmin Honored by Arcadia Rotary Club, City Council
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THURSDAY, MAY 9 - MAY 15, 2019
Since 1996
VOL. 8, , NO. 18
A FREE PRESS IS NOT ‘THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE.’ IT’S DEMOCRACY’S STALWART ALLY Has media been delegitimized by Donald Trump?
Trump speaks to reporters on the White House South Lawn in November 2018. – Courtesy photo
Opinion Terry MILLER tmiller@beaconmedianews.com
T
here have always been presidential “enemies” list(s) but perhaps none more so than now with the most recent administration’s disdain for the press and anyone who dare question Trump’s sovereignty. Therefore, a few days post World Press Freedom Day, we plead with great magnitude, the importance of a free press in a troubled world. Is it contradiction, collusion, confusion, or just plain chaos? Who knows what goes on in the West Wing these days. One thing is certain however, that it is unpredictable at best and down-right exasperating at worst. The President has declared the press “the enemy of the
people” and verbally raids just about anyone with whom he does not agree or even like, usually on Twitter and during his fairly frequent albeit rather noisy Marine One Monologues as he departs for places unknown. These irritating little “press gaggles” seem to have replaced the once hallowed White House press briefings where one could actually hear the banter, wit and repartee between the accredited press corps in attendance and the White House spokesperson of the day. During the second Bush administration, Marine One pilots apparently received directives beforehand from the White House if the president was going to speak to reporters on the lawn. "They'd say - 'Hey, Boss is going to make some remarks, and we'd like it to be quiet,'" said Matt Howard, a former Marine One pilot. By contrast, Trump talks over the helicopter's rather loud roar knowing full well the staged presser will incite ire. According to those in the know, Trump is following in the
footsteps of the “Gipper” who also used the engine's roar to his advantage. Francis Buckley, a senior editor at the American Spectator, said Reagan had an "endearing/infuriating" habit of cupping his ear when a reporter shouted a tough question as if asking: "What was that?" Then he'd refuse to answer the question. "Reagan had a kind of personal self-discipline," said HW Brands, the author of “Reagan: The Life,” explaining he would avoid lengthy discussions about sensitive topics with reporters. “Trump will just blurt out something." Besides playacting not to hear or care about reporters’ questions, Trump is quick to criticize and/or insult just about anyone in the media, especially the so called left-leaning or main stream. "The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!" Trump tweeted, not even a month after his SEE PRESS FREEDOM DAY PAGE 14